site.btaBulgarian Consumer Rights Watchdog at Odds with Health Authorities over Coastal Water Quality

A consumer rights watchdog and the Health Ministry are at odds over the quality of coastal water in Bulgaria. The Active Consumers organizations announced the results of tests showing shocking exceedances of E.coli levels in the water of some beaches on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast but the Health Ministry on Friday rejected the test findings as imprecise and the conclusions as manipulative.

The Ministry position statement also said that the announced tests undermined the efforts of the state institutions and people's confidence in them, and "disturbed citizens at the peak of the tourist season".

What the Active Consumers study found

The Active Consumers tests, done jointly with researchers of Sofia University working on a project examining the microbiological risks in environment, found that seven out of 11 beaches where water samples were taken, had E.coli exceeding by far the admissible level as in one case the exceedance was 41 times. They said that their findings were totally different from those of monitoring by the Burgas Regional Health Inspectorate (RHI).

The researchers expressly point out that this kind of pollution is local and totally unrelated to the Ukraine conflict and the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, and that it is most likely caused by the discharge of waste water directly into the sea without proper treatment. "To us, this illegal practice is a health hazard and puts to risk the development of tourism in Bulgaria," they say.

They also said that RHI should have closed the Popski Beach, which was found to have the highest e.Coli level.

What the Health Ministry said

In addition to the rejecting the test findings, the Health Ministry slammed Active Consumers for releasing the result results too long after they had them; for failing to alert the local health inspectorate; for using an uncertified laboratory; and for failing to provide details about how exactly the samples were taken.

It says that the samples in the Active Consumers study appear to be taken right after torrential rain in the region, which always worsens water quality, implying that consumer rights watch dog may have caught the first-flush effect on water quality and fanned out the conclusions from it.

Furthermore, it explains that the results of the Active Consumers and RHI are incomparable because they used different methods.

"To be matched, the tests should use samples taken in the same way, at the same time and place, and then be done at different labs using the same method," the Ministry statement goes.

In conclusion, the Ministry invites the Sofia University researchers to take samples and test them jointly with the local health authorities so as to establish "the real facts".

An angry mayor

In a Bulgarian National Radio interview, Tsarevo Mayor Georgi Lapchev said that the Active consumers study was "anti-Bulgarian propaganda" and "a well-planned and intentional campaign against Bulgarian resorts". He said that if the real purpose of the study was to protect people's health, Active Consumers should have duly alerted the competent authorities. "Only one authority is competent to do such tests: the Regional Health Inspectorate," the mayor also said.

He said he is not aware of any illegal discharge of sewage water near Popski Beach.

In an interview for BNT on Friday, Environment Minister Julian Popov said that the Active Consumers study revealed a health issue, not an environmental one. He also said that it does not give a complete picture of the quality of seawater and beaches and promised that a more detailed study will be presented next week.

He said, though, that the level of pollution of the Black Sea is increasing.