Leaked pipes in the climate: Bulgaria is exposed to a hydrophery

The Bulgarian villagers Rumyana Tssoneva keep opening the tap in Gorna Studenta near the Danube – and always finds it dry.

When the water finally comes, it only takes a few hours, and the retired agricultural expert has to choose between filling boxes, the line of the washing machine or shower.

“The problems come from 15 years, but the situation deteriorates every year,” the energetic 69-year-old told AFP.

“This year we switched to rationing in June,” she added.

Bulgaria, the poorest country of the EU, has decades of pipe-old prior to the second World War II-LIFE WATERIFTION and bad resource management strengthening the consequences of climate change.

“Every other drop is lost before reaching the water,” said Emil Gachev, researcher from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

In mid -July, water interruptions affected in the country of 6.4 million more than 156,000 people, which is the worst in the EU in the event of losses in supply networks.

– Systemic problem –

Gachev warns that Bulgaria is dangerously close to a permanent water crisis. The ration periods extend longer and more affected places if the dry season extends.

In the past four years, the spring rash has been far below the average of the past 25 years, and some reservoirs have only been filled to a fifth of capacity.

“The villages with disturbed water supply are scattered all over Bulgaria, which points out that this is more of a systemic than an isolated problem,” said Gachev.

This week, a commission was set up last year, which deals with the deterioration situation, the establishment of a national fund to modernize the infrastructure.

The water disorders could increase political stability in the Balkans nation, which has followed seven elections in three years – the youngest in October 2024.

Last summer, the residents of Gorna Sterna blocked the main street, which connected two neighboring regions in protest.

This year is the village, which is located about 30 kilometers from the Danube on a fertile level, in a state of emergency since the end of June.

The water is rationed after zones and hours, but some houses can do without water for more than two days.

The situation is similar in the two neighboring villages in the region, where a saying is: “We have water under our feet, but we die from thirst”.

– 'Don't ask for a swimming pool' –

“We don't ask for a swimming pool, only for a normal life,” said Tssoneva, a former agronomist of the local agricultural cooperative, and now holds a dozen chickens and grows corn.

The population of Gorna Studera decreased from more than 2,000 in the 1960s to around 200, with the vast majority of them pensioners.

A clinic, a pharmacy, a school and a kindergarten have all closed.

Nowadays, the mayor Plamen Ivanov, 52, roams through the village to publish the water distribution plans while his phone rings on.

“This rationing system has to change; it no longer works,” said Ivanov in his air -conditioned office AFP.

Ivanov explains that the situation causes tensions, with different parts of the village preserving different amounts of water.

Not far from the mayor's office, a resident, who only gave her name as a nivyana, slowly steps out of her house with a bucket.

She is lucky: one of the blue tanks installed by the authorities is right in front of her door.

“I wanted to wash my clothes,” said the 83-year-old and lowered his eyes. “But the water ran out before I could finish.”

RB-JZA/DC

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