The National Assembly adopted amendments to the Water Act related to regulating the operation of the River Basin Management Plans and the Flood Risk Management Plans for the period 2016-2021 until their update.

With the expiration of these plans, a regulatory gap was created in water management. The adopted amendments extend the validity of the plans as strategic documents until they are updated. The operation of the plans guarantees that procedures will be conducted for issuing, amending, or extending permits for the use of water under the Water Act and opinions on the admissibility of investment intentions in accordance with the two plans.

The amendment overcomes the negative consequences of the two-year delay, which is the result of delayed procedures for adopting new plans. Measures are already underway to adopt the new plans, which are being prepared under an agreement between Bulgaria and the World Bank.

In the new texts of the law, adopted on March 2, MPs decided that the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology will be transferred from the Ministry of Education and Science to the Ministry of Environment and Water. During the parliamentary debate, Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Policy and Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov said: “My wish is for the work of the institute to develop in the direction of climatology and hydrology, because these are among the important topics of our time. I would like the scientific-analytical direction of the institute to develop. Therefore, I will support the work of these 721 specialists at the institute and I assure you that my efforts will be in the direction of contributing jointly to developing scientific achievements. Thus, the activities of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology and its National Hydrometeorological Service, which makes measurements and provides data, will work to the benefit of society. And this is precisely the role of the Institute. And my role as a minister is to be a good manager and to contribute to the activities and information by the institute to the benefit of society.