Ilya Trombitsky
The Dniester provides drinking water to about 80% of the country’s population, including the municipality of Chisinau. The river is not only of social, cultural and tourist importance: it plays a key role in agriculture, industry, energy and in maintaining the ecological balance.
Ilya Trombitsky, a well-known ecologist and executive director of the International Association of Dniester River Keepers “Eco-Tiras”, noted that the situation in the Dniester River basin is still stable.
Thus, in April, the water level in the Dniester reservoir was 116.6 meters above sea level. At that time, the ecologist said that it was “phenomenally low for this time of year”.
For information: Dniester Reservoir on the Dniester River is located on the territory of Khmelnytsky, Chernivtsi and Vinnytsia regions of Ukraine. At the dam there is an operating Novodnestrovsky hydropower hub. It includes the Dniester hydropower plant.
However, from April to May, the situation changed dramatically for the better. Obviously, after the rains that took place in the Carpathians. At the beginning of May, there was more water in the Dniester. According to the ecologist, this will be enough for the summer to pass without a significant water deficit.
Director of Dubasari HPP Boris German reported that as of mid-May, the water level in the Dniester on the territory of Moldova has significantly increased. This happened because the Dniester HPP raised the water level in its reservoir by 3 meters, now it is 119.4 meters. Therefore, the water that comes to them from the Carpathians began to be discharged.
Now the discharge at the Novodnestrovsky hydropower complex is about 300 cubic meters per second. The inflow of water allowed the downstream Dubasari HPP to start working at full capacity. This is very important, because electricity generation has doubled. After a long break, all four turbines were launched.
The repair of the fourth turbine of Dubasari HPP was completed in March 2025, relay automation was replaced, equipment was adjusted, and other complex works were carried out. After the commissioning of the fourth power unit, the capacity of the plant increased from 24 to 46.5 megawatts.
