In the context of climate change, restoring irrigation infrastructure is an even more critical task

Minister of Environment and Water Petar Dimitrov took part in the twelfth edition of the National Agro-Seminar, organized by the National Association of Grain Producers, which is celebrating its 18th anniversary. This year, the theme of the seminar, which is held in the Albena holiday village, is "The Next Agricultural Revolution", focusing on innovations and sustainable development in agriculture.

Minister Petar Dimitrov joined the discussion within the framework of the panel "Drought vs. Irrigated Agriculture: the Key to Evolution". In front of experts from the agricultural sector and agricultural producers, he spoke about the challenges that the sector faces due to the drought in the country in light of the prospects for a permanent climate-related drought. "Specific data from the National Institute of Meterology and Hydrology clearly show the lack of spring floodwaters - river runoff has decreased by 72% for this year compared to the dry 2023. In the Danube region, it has even decreased by 82%.," said Minister Dimitrov.

The main reason for the shortage of this valuable natural resource is precisely the huge losses of water not only in the water supply networks, but also in the irrigation systems, where water losses reach 90%, he pointed out and reminded that in the past Bulgaria had a widely developed hydro-ameliorative, energy and water supply system, which were designed to work in parallel. "In 1986, we had an irrigation infrastructure for 17 million decares, today we irrigate only 300 thousand decares. I strongly support the rapid restoration of the irrigation infrastructure in Bulgaria. In the context of climate change, this task is even more critical," the Minister stated.

Petar Dimitrov presented the recommendations for the effective use of the available water resources in the irrigation sector, which were adopted a day earlier at a meeting of the Supreme Advisory Council on Water (SACW), namely: to coordinate the policy in the field of fisheries and aquaculture for dams, the waters of which are used both for fish farming and for irrigation; to make an inventory of the existing hydro-ameliorative network and its facilities and to present the information on the website of "Irrigation Systems" EAD; to undertake rehabilitation of the irrigation systems in order to achieve maximum provision of water supplies for agricultural holdings through the network of "Irrigation Systems" EAD, while reducing the amount of water withdrawn; to achieve efficiency in the use of the irrigation infrastructure and reduce unused water masses.

The recommendations of the Supreme Advisory Council on Water for the water supply and irrigation sectors can be seen in the presentation "Water Management Policy - Water Scarcity Issues"

Presentation by the National Institute of Hydrology "Assessment of Precipitation, River Runoff and Groundwater Status"