River runoff in Bulgaria has decreased by 34% in 30 years. In order to have rainfall, we must protect the Bulgarian forests, scientists from the “Klimateka” platform said
The main quantity water in the past in our country they were used in industry and irrigation agriculturebut after the crisis in these two sectors, the use of the water resource has decreased from over 14 to 5-6 billion cubic meters.
To date, the largest part of water consumption in our country goes to industry, much smaller parts to agriculture and forestry and for drinking and household needs. This was announced today by Associate Professor Emil Gachev during an event on the topic “Is it a myth that Bulgaria is rich in water resources?”, which was held in Sofia. The event was organized by the “Klimateka” platform on the occasion of World Water Day, which will be celebrated on March 22, BTA reported.
The water consumption per person in households in our country is about 100 liters per day. So far, there is no water shortage anywhere in the country, but we may begin to observe it in some areas with insufficient resources.
Prof. Gachev added that it is difficult to determine the loss of water, but more or less 55-60 percent of it in our country is lost in the process of delivery to consumers, and according to some estimates the losses reach up to 70 percent. In Germany they are 3 to 5 percent.
Among the solutions to the problem can be replacement of outdated and depreciated infrastructure, good management of leaks, reasonable control of supplied pressure.
Since more than 85 percent of water goes to industrial needs, there is a need to introduce productions with closed cycles of water use, reuse of waste water.
A third of water use in Europe is for agriculture.
Therefore, there is a need to introduce more drought-resistant crops, direct agricultural subsidies to productions with less water consumption, educate farmers about economical water consumption practices, build networks with increased efficiency of water transmission and distribution (in Greece these networks have resulted in 95 percent higher water use efficiency), to use rainwater.
For the efficient use of water in the household, the construction of purification facilities that allow re-use can help a lot.
According to Dr. Valentin Simeonov, the change in ocean circulation and in particular the slowing down or stopping of the Gulf Stream will lead to a serious decrease in precipitation in Bulgaria.
Prof. Gachev emphasized that Bulgaria is supposedly rich in water resources, but this is somewhat misleading. The fresh water resource of our country is about 100 billion cubic meters per year, but three quarters of it are the transit waters of the Danube River. The internal outflow of the territory of the country is about 25 percent of the total amount. The runoff itself varies from 10 to 30 billion cubic meters per year, depending on rainfall.
The area of inland water basins in our country is about 200,000 ha. According to Dr. Simeonov, the river outflow in Bulgaria has decreased by at least 34 percent in the last 30 years.
Prof. Emil Gachev explained that
Bulgaria is in a rain shadow situation
– this determines the relatively low rainfall in our country compared to other countries in Europe and even the Balkans. Some of the driest regions in the country are in its northeastern part.
According to Gachev, Bulgaria can be considered an exporter of water resources, since most of them are domestic rivers are small, and our only larger rivers, which are in the southern part of the country, leave its territory and go to Greece and Turkey.
One of the things that determine the availability of water is reservoirs, but it is important to emphasize the importance of forests – if we do not have forests, there is no water. “They increase the amount of water vapor, attract the rain, redistribute the rain flow, capture the water from fogs and clouds”, he pointed out, adding that their reduction is clear on a global scale, but the main concern in our country is the increasingly frequent forest fires. for which we are not prepared.
“What we have to do in Bulgaria is to protect the forests. We must distinguish between different types of forests – natural forests are valuable, artificial forests are not sustainable and lead to drought,” said Dr. Simeonov.
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