site.btaPrime Minister Orders Environment Ministry to Initiate Crisis Talks on Ticha Dam Water Shortage

An urgent meeting at the Ministry of Environment and Water has been ordered by caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev due to the reduced capacity of the Ticha dam in Northeastern Bulgaria and the resulting water shortage for domestic use, the government press service said here on Thursday.

The Regional Governor of Shumen (Northeastern Bulgaria) sent a report to Glavchev on the previous day, highlighting the serious situation in the region. Glavchev has mandated the Environment Ministry to quickly arrange a meeting with all ministries involved to develop strategies to tackle the crisis.

The Ticha dam is a primary water supply source, providing drinking and domestic use water to hundreds of thousands of households in the Shumen and Targovishte regions (Northeastern Bulgaria). A report was also sent to the Prime Minister by the regional governor of Pleven (Northern Bulgaria), and a meeting has already been scheduled to outline further actions on this issue.

Due to the scale of the water shortage problem in the country, Glavchev suggested that the Environment Minister considers convening a session of the Supreme Advisory Council on Water to gather additional expert and scientific opinions on resolving the crisis. Another mechanism that could be activated to involve all relevant agencies and improve their coordination and cooperation is the Coordination Council on Water.

The Water Act stipulates that the Coordination Council on Water integrates water policy with sectoral policies in the water sector and involves representatives from nine ministries and the National Association of the Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria. As the Council's chair, the Environment Minister can call an extraordinary meeting to discuss the report of the working group created by Glavchev's order, which focuses on the water shortages, and to urgently propose measures and actions to address the issue.

This comes after the Environment Ministry reported earlier in the week that as of October 25, the available capacity of the complex and major dams was 2,370 million cubic metres – a decline of 88 million cubic metres compared to the previous month. For November, the allowed water volumes must be reduced to 442.2 million cubic metres, which is a decline of 29.552 million cubic metres from the volumes permitted for October 2024, the Ministry noted.

The Environment Ministry oversees the water resources of 52 complex and major dams, checking their status every day.