Although Bulgaria is not rich in water resources it is capable of meeting demands even in dry years, it was announced last week.

Prof. Ohanes Santurdjian, director of the Institute on Water Problems with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, said last Friday that the problem was not water quantity, but its distribution throughout the country. The Institute had worked out a general scheme for water usage, and was developing an environmentally friendly water usage program, in accordance with EU requirements.

Bulgaria has between 95 and 98 per cent of the water resources it needs, Santurdjian said, but lacked the infrastructure necessary for their rational use. As an example he pointed out the resources of the Struma and the Mesta rivers (Southwestern Bulgaria), which remained mostly unused.

Running water is supplied to about 4,500 population centres inhabited by approximately 98 per cent of Bulgaria's population. The average amount of drinking water used in 1998 was 405 litres a day per person, according to the Institute's statistics. The Ministry of Environment and Waters (MEW) want this figure to be reduced to 321 litres a day by 2010.

Prof. Marin Radkov said this could be done by cutting losses in the supply network, which exceeded 50 per cent in 1998. Another necessary step is to introduce real prices for water, as it is currently 10-20 times cheaper than EU standards, and did not include many of the side expenses for providing drinking water to the population.

The Ministry of Environment and Waters announced on Tuesday that in the 42 nationally significant dams there were water reserves for August adding to more than 10 per cent of the accepted limit of drinking water, about 56 per cent of the accepted limit for irrigation, and the same amount of water as in July for industrial use and electricity production. The ministry has introduced a monthly schedule for using the water resources, as a guide for their real management in times of drought. The schedule aims to guarantee a satisfactory water supply for drinking water, irrigation, and maintaining the ecological balance of rivers.

Despite these measures droughts led to water rationing and destroyed crops last year. At present, nearly 500 population centres with a combined population of more than a million people (1,167,608) are subject to some form of water rationing. Most of these are small villages in the regions of Montana, Vratsa, Pernik, and Blagoevgrad (all in the Western part of Bulgaria).

A severe drought has totally destroyed the grain harvest in Dobrudja (Northeastern Bulgaria), according to Encho Malev, MP from the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII), and former head of the bread-making plant in Dobrich. He presented local administration data on Sunday, which showed that the drought had reduced the average grain yield per hectare by nearly a third.

Summer fires are also responsible for the destruction of crops and forests. Among the most recent and most devastating fires was one that broke out last Wednesday in the Sakar Mountains (Southern Bulgaria). It destroyed 4,500 hectares of fields, vineyards, and forests.

Among the causes of summer fires is the forbidden, but still popular practice of burning stubble. The new Minister of Environment and Waters, Dolores Arsenova, issued a decree on Monday that the Law for Agricultural Land Protection must be strictly adhered to. Anyone found breaking the law will face fines of up to 2,000 leva for a first offence, and up to 4,000 leva for a second offence. Under the Law for Environmental Protection the fines are a maximum of 3,550 leva for a first offence, and up to 7,000 leva for a second offence.