The Ogosta dam above Montana has reached over 66% of its volume after the rains in recent weeks. The rise in its level once again raises questions about the compromised facilities, because of which 8 years ago it was included in the list of dams for emergency repair - and it is still there, because this repair never started.
Raised above the current Montana 40 years ago as “Mihaylovgrad“, later renamed “Ogosta“, the dam has one of the largest water walls in Bulgaria and the Balkans. Its catchment area is over 900 square kilometers, and the total volume - 506 million cubic meters water.
The dam is a strategic object of importance for Bulgaria's national security and part of the critical infrastructure.
Plans for the construction of the dam appeared as early as the 1960s. Engineers were fully aware of the risks and challenges, as is clear from original documents by Todor Elkin, who participated in the construction of the reservoir as an investor control.
A Soviet expert conclusion on the early project for the hydroelectric complex states: “The Mikhailovgrad dam is a very responsible facility due to its location directly above the city“.
The construction necessitated the eviction of the villages of Kalimanitsa and Zhivovtsi, which fall within its territory.
“For older people, it was a nightmare - to leave their homes, demolish them and move to a place where there were simply vineyards“, said Paraskeva Atanasova.
Paraskeva's story to bTV is from January 2025 and is from the time when the level of “Ogosta“ shrank to about a third of its volume. Then the dam reached a critically low level and its bottom exposed the remains of its former village of Zhivovtsi.
The low level during this period is suitable for repair work on compromised sections and facilities, because of which the dam has been on the emergency repair list since 2018. But such work has not begun to this day.
In response to questions from bTV last year, the Ministry of Agriculture replied that the project documentation and the issued construction permit were handed over to the State Consolidation Company.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and Food cannot take measures and actions based on the prescriptions made by the control authorities, "as long as the construction permit was issued to DKK EAD," the response states.
The severe floods in other parts of the country in recent days bring back memories of the anxious days in the Northwest in June 2023. Then the reservoir filled to over 70% of its volume and reached one of the highest levels since 2014, when a rumor about a crack in its wall caused panic.
“Calm down! Don't panic, don't run anywhere and don't run to sleep outside. There is no such problem! There is no such problem!“, Zlatko Zhivkov, mayor of Montana Municipality, urged at the time.
Due to the prolonged torrential rains in the Northwest 3 years ago, the government warned of a possible evacuation of towns and villages along the Ogosta River. It even reached the point of a midnight meeting of authorities to make complex decisions.
„We were faced with extreme phenomena: within an hour or two - rainfall of the order of 60 to 70 liters per square meter“, said Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, Director of the Directorate General “Fire Safety and Population Protection“ -MV.
A year after Commissioner Dzhartov's statement, another urgent repair of “Ogosta“ was announced. According to the plan, it will mainly include damaged linings of the drainage channel and the wet slope.
Back then, bTV also reported on the unsuitable hydraulic oil used by two of the key facilities.
“Money must be found to purchase hydraulic oil, to replace the oil in the main spillway of the dam and the rapid-falling spillway. This oil has not been replaced since 1986 - since the dam was put into operation“, explained Ivaylo Antonov, former regional governor of Montana.
“The spillway can be opened, but it is not certain whether it will be closed“, commented Antonov.
However, the repair has not begun. And by a decision of the Council of Ministers in April this year, the “Ogosta“ dam was removed from the list for repair - despite the irregularities found, visible from the decision of cabinet.
According to a hydro engineer who participated in the construction of the reservoir, the main problem is precisely the sluice gate and the expired oil he works with. “Which is complete negligence, an outrage on the part of the people responsible for this dam“, added Marin Marinov.
The table sluice is a kind of “tap“ that controls and regulates the amount of water released in cases of excessive water level increase through a flat metal structure. In the event of damage or defect in the tap, the water may not be released on time or may be released uncontrollably.
The hydraulic engineer with decades of experience also says that the mechanism has rusty metal parts.
“There is no one to disassemble the sluice and try to make this stem. If it cannot be fixed, they should buy a new one so that it can work. That is why they were afraid, especially for the fast-falling sluice. If they let it go and they cannot lift it – because the oil is of poor quality: the dam is closing, there is no longer a main outlet, there is no regulation of the water level and we are waiting for the water to overflow through the spillway“, explained Marinov.
The passage of water through the spillway would not be a problem if there were no other related problem – the unfinished correction along the Ogosta riverbed. According to engineer Marinov, this is dangerous because in the event of an overflow, the water will first flood the areas with unfinished correction.
The Montana Municipality makes it clear that the projects for the correction of the riverbed were part of the construction of the dam, and the local authorities are not familiar with them.
„The projects with which it was prepared are not available at the moment, since this correction was an integral part of the construction of the „Ogosta“ dam. I cannot say for sure what else needs to be implemented. For this part, which is opposite the “Ogosta“ neighborhood, there is no project readiness, as this should have been implemented at some point under the existing project“, commented Eng. Kamen Kamenov, Head of the “Construction, Ecology and Technical Infrastructure“ Department in the Municipality of Montana.
And why the dam is of key importance for the region, becomes clear from the words of an employee in “Irrigation Systems“ since the summer of 2023. Then about 300 cubic meters of water flow into the dam per second and without it it will simply flow down the river.
“This is a dam that provides prevention, protects Montana and everything behind Montana along the Ogosta River and protects the city about seven times in the last month. "There could have been floods in the city of Montana seven times," says Eng. Igor Repkin from "Irrigation Systems" EAD.
"At this stage, the "Ogosta" dam is not dangerous in any way for the citizens of Montana, but I will certainly say that if it continues like this, it could happen," said hydro engineer Marin Marinov.
Will the institutions wait for this moment or will they act preventively, citizens in the area are also wondering.
bTV contacted the owner - the Ministry of Agriculture - to find out why the dam was removed from the list, what happened to the allocated money and whether new security measures have been taken. An answer has been awaited for more than two months.
For 40 years, the "Ogosta" dam has been protecting the Northwest from water and continues to hold millions of cubic meters of water. Today the question is whether the state protects him.
Source: btvnovinite.bg