Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Policy and Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov visited the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) during its open-doors day on the occasion of World Water Day on March 22 and the World Meteorology Day on March 23rd. He visited the operational centers for meteorological, hydrological, and marine forecasts.

Sofia may become the only capital without a meteorological station due to the actions of Sofia Municipality and the permitted Detailed Development Plan. This was announced by the Minister at a media briefing he gave later in the day. „A meteorological station has been operating in the NIMH yard for decades, but now there is an investment intention, for which there has been a dispute at last instance in the Supreme Administrative Court between NIMH and Sofia Municipality for the construction of tall buildings in the area. The start of construction activities on this large project in the immediate vicinity of the NIMH station will worsen its operation and in practice we will have to move it from there if we want to have uncompromised data,” said the minister after his meeting with meteorologists.

During his visit to the NIMH, Minister Sandov got acquainted with the water-masses-movement model in the Black Sea. The model was played out at the request of the specialized maritime administration in relation to the information about floating mines in the Black Sea as a result of the military conflict in Ukraine. “To date, there is no danger of mines for fishermen or vessels in the Black Sea. This is part of the hybrid war, but even if there were such danger, within two weeks these mines would not be able to leave the bay in the region of Odessa at all”, Minister Sandov was certain. He reminded that years ago, thanks to these models, the point of origin of dead dolphin bodies on the Bulgarian coast was revealed.

“Water policies are becoming increasingly important for the future of our planet, not only for humanity but also for ecosystems. Especially under the conditions of increasingly serious climate change”, said Minister Sandov at the opening of a poster session at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. The session was organized by the Faculty of Geology and Geography at the Department of Climatology, Hydrology and Geomorphology. He congratulated the students on the occasion of the World Water Day with the words: “I wish you to be really interested in what you study, because only then you can really be enthusiastic for what lies ahead.”

Minister Sandov also congratulated the scientists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences at the opening of a two-day forum on the occasion of the world days. “Groundwater is a vital resource that provides almost half of all drinking water in the world, about 40% of water for irrigated agriculture and about 1/3 of the water needed for the industry,” said the minister, adding that groundwater also contributes to maintaining ecosystems by feeding into the main flow of rivers and being an important part of the process of climate change adaptation.