How do you live in a big city like Pleven without water… It doesn't matter if you are a doctor, a lawyer, a world karate champion. In the face of water scarcity, as they say, everyone is equal… Mariana Valcheva from “Unruly Bulgaria”, world karate champion for girls, doctor of philosophy.
- Ms. Valcheva, how tough are you, the residents of Pleven, to cope with this water regime. Why did it come to this this year?
- The residents of Pleven are tough if they endure these inhuman conditions all summer. We are the victims of a long-standing incompetent government. Tens of thousands of people without access to drinking water, without basic sanitary and hygienic conditions. Without water - this is the long-standing model of GERB in Pleven. They are the main culprits for what is happening. The current mayor, Dr. Valentin Hristov, took office in 2023 with the slogan: "I gave hope to the people of Pleven and will make every effort for more transparent, modern and open governance - with reason and care". Two years later, Pleven continues to be trapped by the water mafia, despite the millions of leva allocated since the beginning of the water crisis. The water supply network is, to put it mildly, in a deplorable state. The institutions under the umbrella of this administration do not function for the benefit of society, but against it.
- A large city in European Bulgaria, and the water comes for 2 hours in the morning and evening. What is the regime in your family?
- Like everyone else - unbearable. From a psychological point of view, it takes a person 21 days to perform the same actions for them to become a habit. Unfortunately, we - the residents of the municipality of Pleven - were deliberately built habits that are completely contrary to basic human needs. In a European country, condemning people to misery, to fill buckets, tubes and jugs with water to fulfill their physiological needs... This should be strictly punishable. The regime is harsh, miserable and the threat of a pandemic is too close when hygiene is absolutely zero. This is an additional reason for the city to depopulate, which does not bode well for its overall development. Pleven is in a downward spiral. In the evenings it is a ghost town.
- Unlike other years, now the protests in the city are large. Have the citizens of Pleven woken up?
- The protests are gaining strength. And they are already saturated with a lot of emotions and anger. It must be clearly understood that this is not a local problem, but a national issue. Residents are suffering and do not see support from the state. They do not find security in the government, since it is the government that is to blame for the unfortunate fate that we have been experiencing for years now. The local government does not support the people, but covers up its mistakes. It is clear that they are buying time, playing around.
Intolerance is a distinctive feature when you use society only and simply as an electorate.
I have a favorite phrase by Robespierre, which reads as follows: “Everything in the world around us has changed; everything must change in the moral and political order.“ We must be united against corruption and the mistakes of those to whom we have voted for our fate! It is time for the Ministers of Regional Development and Ecology – Ivan Ivanov and Manol Genov, to bear political and criminal responsibility. They haven't lifted a finger so far. And the entire management of the Water and Sewerage Holding. Only after the protests did they start explaining something, but without clear goals, deadlines, measures.
- Commissions are being created for the municipality, there is a crisis headquarters for water. What do you expect to happen, what do you expect from the administration?
- They are being created two years later and two weeks before the start of the school year. The Municipality of Pleven is rich in educational institutions, hospitals, sports clubs that are facing a crisis of functioning. I worry that these are yet another behind-the-scenes game, through which time is gained so that nothing changes.
The rulers have been very aware of the problems of Pleven since the beginning of their mandate and the creation of commissions and headquarters does not solve the problem.
Otherwise, every ministry has experts whose job is to prevent situations like this. We ask where they are? What is their job and who is their regulator? What are the annual reports of their activities? If you systematically do not fulfill your official duties, your employer will probably fire you. And here we see impunity again. Pleven has the Gorni Dabnik dam, which can supply the needs of the residents through the right actions and repairs. Why are all actions and attention not directed in this direction? The exploitation of the Cherni Osam dam would lead to an ecological catastrophe, which the local residents are also worried about. As of August 29, 2025, there are photos of the Cherni Osam river, which is drying up. The forests are being cut down. The water supply area has been turned into a landfill. From the bulletin of the Ministry of Environment and Water on the state of the waters it is clear that some of the large dams in the country are literally drying up,
but private hydropower plants do not stop producing and profiting on the backs of the people.
We expect the administration to immediately resign. We also expect immediate measures against the destruction of the environment!
- How do the words "I take responsibility" sound in Pleven?
- These words do not sound in Pleven. We do not hear them, they do not reach us. Where there are no GERB mayors, there are scandals, arrests, tricks, and where there are GERB mayors, even if they commit outrages, they are not held accountable. Boyko Borisov did not set foot in Pleven, he did not demand the resignation of his mayor. There is a political saying: "Son of a bitch, but ours". We ask after 10-15 years of GERB rule and their second takeover of power in the municipality of Pleven, where is Mr. Borisov? Where is Mr. Nankov, who is clearly familiar with the water crisis in the region? Why didn't the president speak out about the problem of over 100 thousand people and convene the National Council of People's Representatives for the water shortage - we can't bathe with gunpowder. He goes to Vitosha, but when in Pleven? Let them show themselves to the residents to express their position. We also had the Pernik case. If we assume that mistakes in politics serve to prevent them from being repeated, then why and who allowed Pleven to share the same tragic fate 5 years later? Society will no longer tolerate the avoidance of responsibility and the functioning of this criminal state. Why, while the people are suffering, the leader of the "those responsible for the crisis" is in Dobrich on the occasion of laying the sod for the installation of lighting at the “Druzhba“ stadium? To be objective, during the investigation into the cause of the problem, water thefts by private individuals were found. In recent days, it was even found by active citizens that some agricultural areas use water for irrigation from systems without water meters. In other words - they steal water. In addition to the question of where this water comes from, another question follows - who steals and who pays for this water. Morality in Pleven is already too polluted.
- Where is the money allocated for the water cycle of Pleven? Is there an answer to the question…
- There are no answers. Responsibility is being transferred between institutions. Nobody knows anything, is not responsible for anything or pretends that we do not exist.
We know that every problem in the country is always related not to who, what and how will it be done, but to who and how will it absorb the funds.
We want transparency for every lev allocated to address the water crisis. We want clear and precise deadlines and projects on which work has begun to replace the water transmission network, which has high leakage rates. Blocked democracy, the mercantilism of politics and the legal orgy resulting from human negligence - kills! The theft of millions of levs cannot go unpunished.
- You are taking a step from sports to politics. In this sense, have you learned to promise, politicians do that, right? As an athlete, I am taught perseverance, hard work and efforts to improve those qualities on which success and good results depend, and they are far from the empty promises that current politicians throw at society.
We are killing Bulgarian villages, and we are already killing Bulgarian cities.
I want to live in a country that does not destroy its oxygen by illegally cutting down forests, that does not poison its water by stealing huge amounts of state money. A country that protects and represents the interests of society, not a country that makes our greatest fears come true. I will quote a thought by Karl Popper: “We should not politicize morality, but moralize politics.“