"Pleven has enough water, but local authorities have ignored the problems for years". This was stated to the Bulgarian National Radio by Emil Dimitrov, former Minister of Environment and Water.
"Thanks to state institutions - 10% and to the rain - 90%, Pleven is currently without a regime. What was it due to? The wrong water supply scheme. For years, the city was supplied with water mainly from "Osam" - the water supply that comes from Lovech and Troyan.
The main water supply should be from the Vit River, explained Dimitrov in the program "Nedelya 150".
The "Cherni Osam" dam has no significance for Pleven, the former Minister of Environment and Water also pointed out.
"The city had the opportunity to supply itself with water all these years. It didn't do it to build a dam at any cost.
A dam regulates the flow of water. When there is water, it collects it, and then you use it. But that doesn't mean you have to use it the same year. You have to save for when it's gone.
Dams are not a panacea. They were pumping it out uncontrollably for three years. They drained the agricultural ones, this year they drained the energy ones too".
We need to think about a backup power supply, he explained and pointed out that Burgas does not have one.
We are waiting for a disaster and a crisis to be able to absorb money, believes Emil Dimitrov.
He analyzed the causes of the disaster on the Black Sea coast, which also resulted in victims.
"It is a matter of judgment how large the river bed should be and what wave it should be sized for. We need to figure out how to make a bed that can pass either through the hotels or past them and reach the sea. It cannot be done with an underground pipe.
Cleaning the rivers is a problem throughout the country. Municipalities have an obligation to clean within the settlement, but they do not do it. They are waiting for money from Sofia for disasters and accidents. The state says: "We can't just pour water everywhere".
Maybe one or two hotels should be pushed in and a route should be made to absorb the water, summarized the former Minister of Environment and Waters.