"Bulgarian Water Supply and Sewerage Holding" has commissioned a report to indicate the consumption of electricity at each pumping station in the country in order to develop a program for rapid energy efficiency of the facilities. This was said by the former Minister of Environment and member of the management of "Bulgarian Water Supply and Sewerage Holding" Manol Genov in the studio of "The Day Begins" on BNT.
Manol Genov, member of the Board of Directors of "Bulgarian Water Supply and Sewerage Holding": "We have requested the loads that these facilities have for consumption in the specified ranges of the day. And our idea is to make a rapid program for energy efficiency. I will even allow myself to share that we have an idea and are resuming energy sources to include, which sooner or later will lead to energy savings. We have done a superficial survey. Plus, the facilities, the pumps with which this water is extracted, Russian pumps, which should not work for more than 30 years. Imagine how difficult it is to service such an outdated facility."
The idea is to develop a program for the replacement of these facilities, as well as to create a modern zoning of the water supply network, which would help with repairs and accidents:
Manol Genov, member of the Board of Directors of "Bulgarian Water Supply and Sewerage Holding": There are long water pipes of 10, 12, 15 km, which serve several settlements. And when one facility breaks down, you have to empty the water supply with a huge amount of water. No measures have been taken in the settlements at the entrance to the water supply networks to create reservoirs that would store a certain amount of water so that it can be reserved and supplied."
Manol Genov explained that the condition of one of the largest water supply companies in our country - the one in Dobrich, can be defined as a "coma state". There are problems with personnel, technical support and finances, he added.
Manol Genov, member of the Board of Directors of "Bulgarian Water Supply Holding": Water Supply - Dobrich is a unique water supply company in its structure and with its problems, because it has a huge network. Four thousand kilometers of network. Over the years, the management there has not been adequate, because it is specific. There are underground boreholes there at 400-500 m. There are also shallower depths, but the problem is that water is mainly extracted there through electricity. Energy is the expense that brings the company into financial deficit. The holding has made gestures and this is my role, to support the company with credit. There were years when the ministry helped, through another company that became part of the joint-stock company, to pay for the company's electricity, because the energy distribution company was going to turn off the power supply. There will be a frank water shortage in the entire area."
This year we are lucky with the weather, added Genov.
Manol Genov, member of the Board of Directors of "Bulgarian Water and Sanitation Holding": "Such precipitation as this year, snow especially, the precipitation that is constantly falling across the country, improved the condition not only of the significant and complex dams. There was even an overflow of many of the dams this year in the spring. Currently, the dams used for drinking and domestic water supply are 90% full of their volume. And today is July 15. Compared to other years, this drought had a very strong impact. So these rains and these precipitations and the snowmelt in the spring and early summer recharge the underground water bodies and accordingly provide the opportunity for the underground water sources to have a more sustainable water yield for drinking and domestic water supply."
According to Genov, so far only 2% of the water supply network of over 40,000 km has been replaced in the country, water pipes built mainly in the 50s, 60s and early 70s.
Manol Genov, member of the Board of Directors of "Bulgarian Water Supply and Sewerage Holding": "We have 8,000 km of steel. These are all facilities that I would say are working on luck. Because we heard a little while ago about the Cherni Osam facility that its service life expired in 2019. The ones I'm telling you about expired a long time ago."
In addition to losses in the network, since the beginning of the year, over 400 cases of "theft" of water from the water supply network have been identified, with 900 for 2025.
According to Manol Genov, there is a need for a new way of determining prices, investments and costs in the sector.