60% of the water that enters the sewers is wasted by the time it reaches people's taps. The problem has deepened in the last 10-15 years, even though billions were poured into this area in these years, mainly funds under the "Environment" Operational Program. This is what the ecologist and former Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the world in focus" on Radio "Focus“.
According to the MoEW, 111,000 people in 179 settlements are currently affected by the lack of water. According to "Green Movement” the figures are several times higher – 345,000 people in 297 settlements. "The difference comes from the fact that the municipality does not always declare a state of emergency because of the water regime, and the water supply operators do not always mention the smaller settlements. But we make these statistics through the people who live in these settlements”, explained Borislav Sandov.
The drought associated with the lack of water in the water sources that should supply the settlements – dams, wells, catchments, is mainly due to climate change. The other big problem is related to the infrastructure and the fact that the water supply infrastructure in Bulgaria is outdated and poorly maintained, pointed out the expert from the "Green Movement”.
Despite the huge funds invested in the last ten years in repairs of the water supply network, the quality of services is deteriorating. There are several reasons for this, the main one being corruption. "A lot of these water cycles are mostly done by companies that do shoddy repairs. Pipes that are incorrect in terms of volume or quality are installed, which crack very quickly afterwards, and we enter the situation of repair of repair, explained Sandov.
He emphasized that the losses of water infrastructure are not paid by the supplier, but by the consumers. The same applies to the theft of water, he added.
Climate changes lead to drought, which also affects agricultural production. "Increasingly, we hear farmers complaining that they have no water to irrigate and are about to lose their crops. Some of the dams are at 5-6% of the useful volume, which means that soon there will be no water for irrigation in them, and the large dams in South and South-Eastern Bulgaria are at 30%, Borislav Sandov pointed out.
Industry and energy will also be affected by climate change, he added.
Borislav Sandov recalled that, in his capacity as Minister of Environment and Water, he initiated a project for full water monitoring. The value of the project was BGN 186 million. The project was approved by the European Commission as part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. "Monitoring of the water from the reservoirs to our taps was put in place so that we could follow the entire flow of water and know where the shortages were. However, this project was scuttled, mostly by officials in the last three caretaker and one regular governments. They explained that this could not happen, and Minister Julian Popov gave up on this project”, explained Borislav Sandov.
In his words, a major shortcoming of PVU is that it does not provide additional remuneration for civil servants. "This creates additional work for them and they boycott and blame the projects under the Plan in every possible way,”, he explained.
It is important to have a water management strategy, the ecologist emphasized.
The quality of infrastructure is key to reducing water loss rates. In Dobrichka region, the losses reach 80%, he pointed out.
"It is very important for drinking and household needs to solve the issue of infrastructure. There are funds for the current operational programs, but there needs to be increased control and public procurement should not be pre-determined, commented Borislav Sandov.
"We should not only look at how much water there is and how we distribute it, but also how it is used. We keep calling "science fiction" the use of rainwater in households or in agriculture. This is a large source of water that can be used”, the ecologist added.