The Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW) is appealing for urgent action due to the limited water volumes in the dams.
It manages the waters of 52 complex and important dams, monitoring their condition on a daily basis. The sum of the volumes available in them as of 25.10.2024 is 3255 million m3, which represents 49.8% of the sum of their total volumes.
According to their main purpose, the volumes available in them are as follows:
drinking and domestic water supply – 62.9% of their total volume;
irrigation – 30.9% of their total volume;
energy – 58.5% of their total volume.
The available useful volume of the complex and significant dams as of 25.10.2024 is 2370 million m3, which is 88 million m3 less than in the previous month.
For the month of November 2024, it is necessary to reduce the permitted water volumes – it is planned to use 442,200 million m3, which is 29,552 million m3 less than the permitted water volumes for the month of October 2024.
After analyzing the volumes in the complex dams for the period 2010-2024, a retention of low volumes over the last few years is evident, with the inflow to date being relative to or lower than that typical of a very dry year.
At the moment with low levels compared to previous years, given the lack of spring flood and inflow received for the conditions of a very dry year (i.e. a year with an established inflow with a guarantee of 95%), are the dams Ticha, Kamchia, Yastrebino, Yasna Polyana, Asenovets, Srechenska Bara, Yovkovtsi, Kalin and Karagyol, used for drinking and domestic water supply, and Domlyan, Piasčnik”, “Topolnitsa”, “Koprinka” and “Zhrebchevo”from which significant volumes of water are used for irrigation.
The Ministry of Regional Development (MRRD), “Bulgarian Waterworks Holding” EAD and the waterworks operators have been notified that if the trend of low inflow continues, the provision of drinking and domestic water supply in 2025 from the “Kamchia” and “Yasna Polyana” dams is a concern “, and the water supply from the Ticha dam will not be guaranteed in 2026.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications calls for urgent actions to be taken to ensure the drinking and domestic water supply of the settlements along the Southern Black Sea coast, as well as for the water and sanitation operators to specify their requests for the annual schedule for 2025, taking into account all possible reserve and alternative water sources, the permitted limits in the issued permits and available volumes in dams.
It is also necessary for the water supply operators to bring all water withdrawals for drinking and domestic water supply to the population in accordance with the legal requirements.
Given the limited water volumes in the dams, the Ministry of Water Resources, whose competence is the implementation of the policy in the water supply sector, has been informed that it should take actions to coordinate the water supply operators to ensure the drinking and domestic water supply of the population, including for the inclusion of new and rehabilitation of old water sources for alternative drinking-domestic water supply, as well as for a significant reduction of losses in the water supply network.
In terms of irrigation, while maintaining the trend of small inflow, the provision of irrigation for the 2025 irrigation season for the dams: “Ticha”, “Koprinka”, “Zhrebchevo”, “Domlyan”, “Topolnitsa” and “Pyasachnik” is worrying.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAF) and “Irrigation Systems” EAD have been informed of the situation and that they should take action to rehabilitate compromised and restore existing irrigation networks in order to reduce losses and prevent water wastage. It is necessary to actively work towards the restoration and modernization of the irrigation infrastructure.
“Irrigation Systems” EAD should refine its requests for an annual schedule for 2025, taking into account the permitted annual limit in the issued permits and the available volumes in the dams.
In part of the dams managed by Irrigation Systems EAD, including the “Zhrebchevo”, “Koprinka” and “Pyasčnik” dams, aquaculture is grown, and due to the lack of inflow and the need to ensure the quantities for irrigation, the biodiversity and water ecosystem of these water bodies are threatened.
The Ministry of Agriculture should decide on the prioritization of uses in accordance with the available water resources in the implementation of both the fisheries and aquaculture policy and the agricultural irrigation policy.
We remind you that the actions of the MoEW are aimed at a balanced distribution of the available resource and promotion of its sustainable use and protection. In case of insufficient inflow, the monthly schedules only ensure an even distribution of the remaining resource in the dams, and this will not guarantee the population’s water consumption with the necessary security.
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