site.btaEnvironment Minister Underlines Substantial Cuts in Water Network Losses as Top Priority

Caretaker Environment Minister Petar Dimitrov underlined the substantial reduction of losses in the water network as a top priority of the Supreme Advisory Council on Water during a briefing here on Wednesday. He explained that this priority requires a lot of resources. The participants in the council meeting also stressed that this priority concerns the water and irrigation sector. Replacement of the most disturbed areas, where the most water is lost, should be the top priority, the Minister said. 

"We united around several recommendations, which are generally related to the use of water for irrigation and drinking water supply," Dimitrov further commented. The reduction of this resource and the lack of adequate infrastructure leads to very low efficiency of use, somewhere the losses are over 90% for irrigation and in many cases - over 80% when the water supply is for drinking purposes, he also said.

Representatives of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) participated in the meeting and gave an accurate analysis and assessment of rainfall, river runoff and groundwater levels. Compared to the previous drought in 2023, the river runoff has decreased in June by 72% on an average across the country, the Minister said. This is visible in Pleven and Lovech where the reduction in runoff is 82%. "Colleagues from NIMH have presented accurate information for 2024, a significant reduction in surface runoff and rainfall has been observed mainly in the mountainous regions where water resource is accumulated," Dimitrov added.