"There are not many institutions responsible for water, if they are well coordinated. The problem is rather with coordination, perhaps an eighth institution is needed to coordinate them or to centralize many of the functions in one institution - then things will become clearer", commented to bTV Yulian Popov - twice Minister of Environment and Water, political advisor for Central and Eastern Europe of the European Climate Foundation, quoted by FOCUS.
"Poor governance - this is the simplest definition. Lack of maintenance of every system, infrastructure. It must be maintained competently. This is obviously not happening. 30 years ago, 50% of the Bulgarian population was on a water regime, now it is 5%. This is not an excuse for Pleven and Lovech to be in this state. The management of the respective companies must be changed," Popov said when asked what the reason for the water shortage was.
What is the solution: "There is a recipe for water - one, as we see in Sofia - a concession with very strict requirements and, accordingly, if these requirements are not met by a concessionaire, the contract will be terminated. In this case, in Sofia, we have high water quality, the lowest price of water, the lowest losses. The other recipe: focused, serious and professional management by a municipal company or an existing water and sewerage system. The option with a serious external consultant who can determine what needs to be done and then publicly declare and have these actions carried out is also possible.
In the case of Pleven - it is very important to have the so-called "zoning" - to see very clearly where there are leaks that can be fixed more quickly. New technologies can help a lot. Good governance is lacking, according to Popov.
The last thing I would recommend to people is to pray. Someone suggested this approach, it is extremely unreasonable. Rather, they should put pressure on the various governing bodies, both at the central and local levels, to do their job. If there is no expertise in Pleven Water and Sewerage and in the municipality, then they should turn to external assistance to help. European funds are not a solution.