This was reported by the capital’s city hall following the second meeting of the Emergency Situations Commission. As Mayor Ion Ceban noted, experts from the utility company, who have been monitoring the hydrological situation for many years, consider it to be stable and no different from previous years. At the same time, the commission decided to step up monitoring of water levels and flow rates at water intake points, as well as the operation of water supply facilities.
At the same time, the mayor’s office and Apă-Canal Chișinău will request official information from the central authorities regarding the hydrological regime of the Dniester River, water discharge volumes, possible changes in the regime, and forecasts for the near future.
Apă-Canal Chișinău has been instructed to take measures to prevent risks and ensure an uninterrupted water supply. As the mayor stated, if necessary, these measures will be financed from the municipality’s reserve fund, the company’s development fund, and other sources provided for by law.
Cooperation with the Ukrainian side is necessary
At the same time, Ceban believes that the water supply situation can be effectively managed through cooperation between the Moldovan government and the Ukrainian side. He accused the central authorities of creating unfounded panic regarding potential problems with the capital’s water supply.
He also stated that he would personally contact the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to whom he will send a letter requesting his personal assistance should the situation regarding the capital’s water supply deteriorate.
At the end of last week, an extraordinary meeting of the joint commission was held to assess the hydrological situation in the Dniester River basin. Ukrainian representatives reported a significant decrease in precipitation in the Carpathians and in the water level of the Novodnestrovsk Reservoir.
The Ukrainian side proposed reducing the discharge of water from the reservoir from 100 to 70 cubic meters per second to maintain sufficient reserves in the event of a prolonged drought. Its representatives reported that Ukraine has already imposed water use restrictions on 177 consumers and has taken other measures as well.
Chisinau has no alternative to the Dniester
For its part, Moldova’s Ministry of Environmental Protection has requested that the current water discharge regime be maintained until the end of July. At the same time, Minister Gheorghe Hăžder reported that Apă-Canal Chișinău had informed the ministry that there are no alternative water sources in the event of a force majeure situation.
“The operator uses 34 active artesian wells, which are capable of providing 1,300 cubic meters of water per day out of the required 30,000 cubic meters—that is, 4.3% of the critical volume. This means that there are no alternative water sources in Chișinău other than the Dniester,” said Gheorghe Hazder.
At the same time, he noted that the situation is currently under control—there is water in the Novodnestrovsk Reservoir—but it is necessary to ensure that Apă-Canal Chișinău has the technical capacity to respond to crisis situations.
