The extraordinary meeting of the Committee on Environment and Water in the parliament lasted for over three hours, at which a draft resolution to take emergency measures to overcome the water crisis was approved, submitted by deputies from GERB-SDF, “BSP – United Left“, “There is such a people“ and “DPS – New Beginning“. The draft resolution was adopted with 12 votes “for“, one “against“ and three abstentions. The Council of Ministers is expected to form a National Water Board within two weeks with the aim of coordinated actions to overcome the water crisis in 2025 and coordinate the efforts of all interested institutions to prevent possible future crises.
Investments in the rehabilitation of water supply and sewage systems are yielding results, but the overall picture remains unchanged because the problem is extremely large-scale, said the chairman of the committee Mladen Shishkov (GERB-SDF) and one of the sponsors of the adopted project. Shishkov noted that in places where rehabilitation has been carried out over the years, losses have decreased by over 60% and added that the total length of the network is over 90 thousand kilometers. In order to have a sustainable effect, it is necessary to continue the policy of rehabilitation and construction of new networks, the chairman said.
The committee rejected the proposal of the parliamentary group of “Continuing Change – Democratic Bulgaria“ (PP-DB). It was supported by five votes “for“, “against“ none, 11 abstained. The draft resolution proposed by Krasimira Katincharova from the parliamentary group of “Velicie“ was also not adopted. Three deputies voted for it, 13 abstained, “against“ none.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Environment and Water Manol Genov and the relevant Deputy Minister Atanas Kostadinov, the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Ivan Ivanov, representatives of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, civil and industry organizations.
We cannot speak of a critical water shortage in terms of drinking and domestic water supply at the moment, said Minister Manol Genov. We are extremely restrictive in the use of water for irrigation, he said.
As of August 18, a total of 260,868 thousand people, 16 cities and 283 villages have been affected by disrupted water supply, said Minister Ivan Ivanov. Among the main problems for the water shortage crisis are underground water sources, mainly in small settlements, he pointed out and added that there is no surface water source in Pleven, and the city is supplied by a river, like Troyan, Lovech and the surrounding villages.
At the beginning of the meeting, representatives of the opposition and the ruling party exchanged remarks about who is to blame for the water shortage in the country. The PP-DB said that the government has not taken the necessary actions to address the water crisis. The GERB-SDF did not agree with this opinion. The "DPS-New Beginning" also said that the necessary things are being done and the necessary solutions are being proposed. Any action to solve the problem of these 500 thousand people with water shortages will be supported by the parliamentary group of the "Alliance for Rights and Freedoms", said MP Husni Adem.
Representatives of industry organizations present at the meeting also expressed their opinions on what can be done against water scarcity.