Moldova
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Highlights
- Through UNDP's new project, Moldova will become the champion among NICs to change the country's water quality standards from the old inherited Soviet system to the new EU Water Framework Directive approach.
- The new UNDAF is expected to underline Water Governance as a key area; it will most probably contain water quality standards as one of the outputs of the framework.
- NEW Transboundary Dniester River Project
Overview of Water Resources
All Moldovan rivers are part of the Black Sea basin and flow from the north-west to the south-east. The country's water network consists of the Nistru and Prut river systems, the rivers flowing into the Danube lakes, and the lakes in the vicinity of the Black Sea. There are 3 621 big and small rivers, permanent and temporary streams, of which only 9 are longer than 100 km. The flow of small rivers decreases in summer, sometimes drying up completely. The most intense floods take place in summer during the torrential rain season. There are 57 lakes with a total surface of 62.2 km2.
Groundwater resources are not uniformly distributed over the territory. The main water reserves are located in the Nistru river underlying aquifer. Moving further away from the river, the water supply of the water table decreases. Groundwater is extracted from the Cretaceous and Silurian formations (protozoic age), Baden Sarmatian, middle Sarmatian, upper Sarmatian (Neocene formations), and Meotian and Pontian geological layers.
The Republic of Moldova is located in a region of insufficient precipitation and has limited water resources. Medium and moderate droughts (respectively 70% and 90% of normal rainfall) have been reported 40% of the time over the past 50 years; severe droughts (less than 45% normal rainfalls) 4% of the time only.
The available overall aquatic resources are 6.3 billion m3 in a typical year, 4.9 billion m3 in a dry year and 3.4 billion m3 in an extremely droughty year. About 3.2 billion m3 of water are needed annually for all national economic sectors and for the supply of drinking water - of which about 2 billion m3 are used at the Moldovan Thermal Power Plant. The rest (1.2 billion m3) is used as follows: 63% for agriculture, 15% for household water supply, 14% for industry and 8% for building, transport and other uses. The Republic draws 56% of its water from the Nistru River, 16% from the Prut River, 8% from small rivers and 20% from underground resources (these data do not include phreatic water sources from rural regions.
The degradation of water resources is an urgent concern for Moldova. The Nistru and Prut river systems account for 90% of total surface waters in Moldova. Catchments for the rivers lie in the Ukrainian Carpathians and pass through Moldova into the Danube delta and Nistru liman which lie in Ukraine and Romania. These areas are classed as sensitive environments of European significance. Water reaching the territory of Moldova is of relatively good quality. Within Moldova, the classification of the Nistru and Prut rivers change to moderately polluted . In industrial areas, parts of both rivers are highly polluted . Read more about water resources in Moldova
Projects
UNDP-Projects
National:
Project ideas / Proposals under Development:
Convergence with EU Water Quality Standards
Proposal in Finalization Draft
See Also Workspace - Proposals under Development
Regional:
Integrated River Basin Management in the Prut River Basin
First draft proposal / idea
Others
National:
- National programme called "Moldova Village" that supports 500 villages to build up / renovate WSS system
- WB-loan (USD 12 Mio.) for 5 major towns --> expected to be extended to 5 more towns in the Dniepr region
(source: EUWI-EECCA meeting, Yerevan Nov 05)
SDC - Better control of water in Moldova
Closed (?)
Regional:
Reports
Proposed EU/Moldova Action Plan
A Framework for Water Quality Standards in Rivers and Point Source Discharges
Millennium Development Goals Report in the Republic of Moldova
Moldova Environmental Performance Review 2005 (Draft)
Moldova - Water Supply and Sanitation Data for 1990 and 2004
Millennium Development Goals: Targets and Indicators for Moldova
Resources and Links
Contacts
- CoP-Members
- Contacts
Further resources
World Bank Water Supply and Sanitation
REC Central and Eastern Europe
