Government steps up measures to prevent water crisis in Chișinău

The authorities will make every effort to ensure that the municipality of Chișinău does not run out of drinking water, despite the sharp decrease in the Dniester’s flow and the risks caused by the prolonged drought, Prime Minister Vasile Tofan told a TV show.

The Prime Minister explained that the issue is caused by a drastic drop in the amount of water reaching the Novodnestrovsk reservoir.

“We have the Novodnestrovsk reservoir. The Dniester flows into it and currently brings about 30–40 cubic meters of water per second, while Ukraine used to release 100 cubic meters per second to us. The water level in the reservoir was dropping every day,” Tofan said.

According to the official, the Moldovan authorities held negotiations with the Ukrainian side to prevent a further sharp reduction of the flow.

“I had a discussion with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, and the Minister of the Environment spoke with his counterpart. Together we managed to convince the Ukrainian side to maintain the flow at 85 cubic meters per second and not reduce it to 70,” the Prime Minister said.

He pointed out, however, that this solution cannot be guaranteed in the long term, as Ukraine itself is facing technical problems.

“At some point, the risks on the Ukrainian side will be too high for them to maintain a high flow, because they also have technological problems,” Tofan said.

In parallel with the negotiations, the Government is trying to gain time so that the water operator can adapt the intake infrastructure.

“Our focus is to maintain as high a flow as possible and, on the other hand, to prepare so that the intake station can operate. In this regard, the responsibility lies primarily with the City Hall,” the Prime Minister declared.

Vasile Tofan said that the Executive has responded to all the requests coming from the Chișinău City Hall.

“We have insisted on putting political games aside. Now it’s about water. People can live without electricity and without gas, but they cannot live without water. They needed pumps, we provided pumps. They needed more pumps, we provided more pumps. Everything we can do on our side, we will do,” he said.

The Prime Minister expressed hope that the measures adopted will prevent any interruption in the water supply.

“I very much hope that we will not find ourselves in a situation where we run out of water. I believe we will not run out of water,” Vasile Tofan concluded.

On July 28, the Republic of Moldova declared a hydrological alert for a period of 30 days, following a significant decrease in water resources in the Dniester basin. After a visit to the Novodnestrovsk reservoir, the Minister of the Environment announced that the water level had dropped to 112.9 meters, more than four meters below the level recorded in the same period last year. The authorities are constantly monitoring the evolution of the situation and are urging the population to save water.