The draft law on water supply and sanitation submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers, in addition to not solving the problems in the sector, burdens Bulgarian citizens with three new "water meter" fees. This was stated in a statement sent to the National Assembly by the chairwoman of the civic platform Stand Up.BG Maya Manolova.
“It is absurd in the current difficult situation in the country, marked by water shortages, disrupted water supply and water regimes in over 35 Bulgarian municipalities, for the National Assembly to consider and adopt a law on Water and Sewerage, which transfers the financial burden of unresolved problems in Water and Sewerage onto consumers‘‘ – the statement also states.
The new “water meter“ fees will also be paid by those 260 thousand people who have been living without water or on a regime for months, and by those from whose taps murky, unfit for drinking water flows, and by the owners of 1.657 million uninhabited homes (according to the 2021 NSI census) who do not live in their properties. All of them do not use water, but according to the new law they will pay for access - for the supply of drinking water, for the disposal of wastewater, for purification. Moreover, the amount of the fees ‚‚water meter‘‘ is not specified in the law - it will be determined by officials at the Ministry of Regional Development in an ordinance, and will not be tied to the social affordability of the price of water. That is, the fees ‘‘water meter‘‘ will increase without a limit imposed by the so-called ‘‘social affordability‘‘! Because, as stated in the Preliminary Impact Assessment Report, the water meter fees “aim to provide financial flows for water and sanitation operators to cover their fixed costs for maintaining the water and sanitation systems“. In this way, the bill turns the right to access water into a luxury.
In her opinion, Manolova defines the intention of the sponsors to make people pay for water that they do not use as “cynical“ and insists that the bill be withdrawn. Stand Up.BG insists that the bill be withdrawn because in its current form it only burdens citizens and makes access to water not a right, but a luxury.
According to the chairwoman of the civic platform Stand Up.BG Maya Manolova, “the ZVIK project not only does not protect, but also severely violates the rights of consumers. The proposal that the price of water and sanitation services not be tied to quality indicators is absolutely unacceptable. There is also no procedure for reducing the price of water in cases where it does not meet the requirements for drinking water quality.“
In addition, the draft law of the Council of Ministers ignores the solution to the most important problems for consumers in the water supply sector:
The single price of water in one region is maintained, regardless of the difference in the standard of living between small settlements and regional cities, as well as the real price of water supply, regardless of whether it is gravity or pumped.
The social affordability of the price of water will be calculated, as it has been until now, by the EWRC “by eye“, instead of its parameters being written down in the law, so as to guarantee its fair determination.
The draft does not provide for an obligation to provide water subsidies to support low-income households. The fact that the huge mass of energy poor is also joined by the multitude of water poor is completely ignored.
There is no obligation on the Water and Sewerage Operators to provide compensation in cases of disrupted water supply, water regime and water shortage.
Once again, the draft of the Water and Sewerage Act does not offer any solution to the biggest problem - the so-called common distribution in condominium buildings.
The draft law continues the infernal plan to put an end to the last remaining municipal Water and Sewerage Companies, which provide a better and cheaper service than the regional Water and Sewerage Associations, which after the so-called “water reform“ increased the price threefold, but the quality of the service - not.
In her opinion, Manolova states that the purpose of the Law defined in the motives - to meet the requirements of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, is not achieved with the proposed provisions. Moreover, according to her, the NRW does not introduce a requirement for the preparation of a new Water and Sewerage Act, but for a reform, which is missing in the draft.
Therefore, Stand Up.BG insists that the Council of Ministers withdraw the unfortunate bill, which is being proposed for the 6th time almost without amendments, and to take action to draft an adequate new Water and Sewerage Law that would solve the existing problems. Manolova calls for a genuine public discussion with the participation of Bulgarian municipalities, civil society organizations and experts, and not “washing hands” with formally conducted public consultations.