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Water crisis looms over Shumen, Targovishte and Veliki Preslav

Will the taps remain dry in Northeastern Bulgaria?

Nov 1, 2024 08:38 125

One of the largest dams in Bulgaria – “Running” has less and less water. The reservoir supplies Shumen, Targovishte and Veliki Preslav for drinking purposes, and is also used for agricultural irrigation.

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Is the dam drying up, are cities at risk of a water crisis, and is there water for farmers?

In recent years, drought has affected the availability of water in the dam. The level has dropped noticeably – visible to the naked eye. And the Shumen municipality raised the alarm about the falling levels in the "Ticha" dam.

The mayor of Shumen, Prof. Hristo Hristov, stated that the information that the bulletin of the Ministry of Environment and Water publishes daily is worrying.

„From the information that the MoEW bulletin publishes daily, it can be seen that as of October 25, the water level in the “Ticha” is 37.86% useful volume, which is extremely worrying for us. The dam is the only water source that supplies drinking water to Shumen and other large cities. The inflow into the dam is 0.06%, and the cost of water is 1.6%, which is three times more than what flows into the dam“, emphasized Prof. Hristov.

„For this reason, we are contacting the Minister of the Environment. In the short term, we will request that the supply of irrigation water, regardless of the fact that it is the end of the summer season, as well as water to hydroelectric plants that are at the mouth of the Kamchia River, be suspended. We also want a real measurement of the useful volume, since at the moment it is not clear what the sediments are in the dam, he added.

According to the manager of “Irrigation Systems” in Shumen, engineer Krasimir Markov, however, there is currently no room for concern.

„The volume of the dam is 142 million, which is 45% of the total volume. For comparison, I want to note that just two, three years ago, the volume had fallen to 133 million. Much earlier in the years, minimum volumes fell from 130 to 91 million. Dead volume is clear – I can say with satisfaction that we already have a contract for underwater surveys”, Engineer Markov specified.