In less than 10 years the world is going to face a global water shortage and the pandemic is only matters worse, according to the annual UNESCO report released on World Water Day. At the moment there are around 2 billion people in the world without direct access to water and not enough efforts are being made globally to preserve this resource, data show.

Bulgaria is close to bottom of the list of places in Europe in per capita water resources, Greenpeace Bulgaria warns on World Water Day, 22 March. The organization warns that coal-fired power stations which use huge amounts of clean water are concentrated in the same regions which are at highest risk of aridity.

This provoked Greenpeace Bulgaria to ask six of the parties running in the elections for the next parliament three questions publicly - questions regarding the state and the preservation of waters. They add that the upcoming elections for parliament in Bulgaria will take place at a time of many challenges to our society, a time of health, social, economic and climate crises and that water is something that brings many of the problems they are working on into sharp focus.

“We believe that the people who are aspiring to take the helm of the country should have a vision and a plan for the utilization of Bulgaria’s water resources. I expect them to publicly state their position and to take a commitment to protect and preserve this invaluable resource,” Meglena Antonova, campaign coordinator for Greenpreace Bulgaria commented in an interview for BNR-Varna:

“In Bulgaria we saw many places with big problems, with rolling water outages – in smaller as well as in larger towns. That is why we believe it is important that in such political campaigns which are all about politicians’ vision of the future, attention should be given to such problems because they are of paramount importance to the way our society will continue to develop. During previous parliamentary elections we have analyzed the programmes of different parties to find out more about their plans regarding EP. Regrettably, most of them did not have detailed positions or a vision as to how to preserve nature while improving people’s quality of life. On the basis of this experience, this time we decided to ask several very concrete questions about water,” Meglena Antonova says.

The questions focus on the state of waters in principle and their depletion in the context of the deepening climate changes, the utilization of water in energy and its systematic pollution.

“I wouldn’t say that the problem is entirely missing from the party programmes, but we are not seeing it in the entirety in which the problem of water resource preservation ought to be addressed,” Meglena Antonova adds.

The environmental organization expects the parties to assume a clear and concrete public commitment of addressing Bulgaria’s water preservation problems.

“We are hoping to get an answer from them because we intent to publish their answers. But even if they do not answer us directly but express their position in other public statements, we would consider that to be important as well because we are doing it for the public. We believe that citizens want to hear their opinion on this subject. So, whichever way they may express their position publicly, to us that is what matters,” says Meglena Antonova, campaign coordinator for Greenpeace Bulgaria.

Interview by Mariela Dimitrova, Radio Varna

Editing by Elena Karkalanova

Photos: archive and Georgi Korneykov-BNR