site.btaParliament Hears Regional Development Minister on Water Shortage

Parliament Wednesday gave a hearing to Regional Development Minister Violeta Koritarova on the water crisis. She said there is no water rationing in places with dams supplying drinking water, and recalled that just two reservoirs - Plovdivtsi and Luda Yana - were built in the last 30 years. New reservoirs can be built if financing is available.

Koritarova noted that the unauthorized use of drinking water for watering gardens and washing streets and cars should stop and people should show solidarity with the settlements with water rationing.

The Regional Development Ministry monitors the process and receives weekly information on the number of towns and villages with water rationing, she said. The Ministry posts information on water rationing across the country on its website, while the websites of water and sewerage companies have detailed information on specific locations.

To date, water supply is disrupted in 403 settlements - 14 towns and 389 villages in 25 regions. "Though this is not a small number, these are 8% of all settlements in the country," the Minister said. A total of 314,444 people were affected as at September 1.

The main problem is outdated infrastructure, with а total length of over 75,000 kilometres. The rehabilitation of the water and sewerage infrastructure is difficult because it is underground. The Minister stressed that at present, out of 2,539 municipal projects in the Investment Programme for Municipal Project financed from the state budget in 2024, 452 projects are for investments in water and sewerage infrastructure worth over BGN 1.2 billion.

Answering a question, Koritarova said construction of the Cherni Osam dam is the only option for normal water supply in the regional capitals Pleven and Lovech. Early in the 21st century, the project was estimated at BGN 284 million, which the Ministry cannot afford. "We must spare no effort to provide back-up water supply. To this end, we will resume the design of the Aheloi, Poroi and Cherni Osam dams," she said.

At the end of her presentation, the Minister called again for political support in tackling the problem, which will worsen due to climate change.