1. Water management and Flood risk assessment in Bulgaria Petya Balieva – junior expert - Water use department, Water management directorate Seminar: “Interagency Cooperation in Crisis Management and Disaster Response. Tools and Practices for Training” 17-18 September 2013, Sofia, Bulgaria Ministry of environment and water

2. Water management In Bulgaria Water management is implemented at national and basin level. Ministry of environment and water (MOEW) is а governmental institution committed with achievement of integrated water management, which includes provision of the population with water in good quality and sufficient quantity, as well as reduction of consequences of floods and droughts. MOEW manages the use of water in 53 complex and significant dams in the country (included in Annex 1 of Water act). Their total volume amounts to 6 692.03 mln.m 3, which represents about 87% of the volume of all dams build in the country. Supervising of such water volume involve a sure protection of floods of the river valleys below.

3. Operational unit in MOEW In MOEW with an order of the Minister is established an operational unit, which carries out daily analysis of hydro-meteorological conditions and the status of water bodies in the country. Upon receipt of information from NIMH for intensive rainfall and risk of high water operational unit carries out 24-hour duties. System for announcing the MOEW in the event of heavy rains forecast for the model ALADIN Analysis of the daily amount of precipitation, using the model ALADIN (Map of rainfall) National institute of meteorology and hydrology

4. Operational unit – Information flow During high water to minimize the flood risk in MOEW is carried out: 1.Daily assessment of the status of water bodies and settlements (information from utility companies, BD and NIMH), which is sent by e-mail to the Ministry of Interior and MDFSCP; 2.Determination of volumes in reservoirs during high water (disposition to operational structures by NEC, IS, WSS for maintenance of certain volumes in reservoirs); 3.Alert neighbors in case of expected high water, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. MINISTRY of FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMUNITIES (status of rivers, dikes, hydrotechnical constructions, adverse effect of water) MINISTRY of INTERIOR – Main directorate fire safety and civil protection MOEW BASIN DIRECTORATES “Irrigation systems” Ltd “National electricity company” Ltd “Water supply and sewerage” Ltd (Reservoirs condition) NIMH (hydrological & meteorological forecast)

5. Directive 2007/60/ЕС on the assessment and management of flood risks Assessment and management of flood risks for the Republic of Bulgaria is subject to the European Floods Directive (DN), which entered into force on 26.11.2007 and has been transposed into national legislation with the amendment of the Water Act in August 2010. The Directive requires Member States to implement long-term planning approach to reduce the risk of flooding in three stages:

6. Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) PFRA is carried out according to "Methods for flood risk assessment - a preliminary assessment" (article 187c, paragraph 2, item 6 of WA) agreed by the Minister of environment and water.

7. Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) Main purpose of PFRA -to review existing and readily available information on past floods and their adverse consequences; -To analyze the possibility of repetition in the future, incl. potential adverse consequences; -To assess the possible adverse consequences of potential future floods; -to identify significant past and potential future floods.

8. PFRA Results Total registered historical floods in the country - 1903 pieces National criteria contained indicators for 4 categories: „Human health“, „Economic activity“, „Environment“, „Cultural heritage“

9. Public consultation At every stage of PFRA development the results are announced publicly and consultation with stakeholders and the public are carried out. The results of the public consultation are included in the final versions of the documents.

10. Publication of PFRA The results are published on the websites of the 4 Basin Directorates and MOEW and are displayed on an interactive Web-based maps. MOEW → http://www.moew.government.bg/?show=top&cid=67 DRBD → http://www.bd-dunav.org/content/upravlenie-na-vodite/upravlenie-na-riska-ot- navodneniia/predvaritelna-ocenka-na-riska-ot-navodneniia-v-dunavski-rayon-za-baseynovo- upravlenie/porn-v-dunavski-rayon/ BSBD → http://bsbd.org/v2/bg/index_bg_2934486.html EARBD → http://bd-ibr.org/details.php?p_id=243&id=276 WARBD → http://www.wabd.bg/bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=987&Itemid=72

11. Areas with potential significant flood risk (APSFR) PFRA is the basis for determining areas with significant potential flood risk (ASPFR) acc.art.5 of Directive 2007/60/EC and Art. 146g. of the Water Act. The Areas include places, where by PFRA significant past and potential future floods are identified, which could have significant adverse effects. The risk is classified into three levels: low, medium and high. Uniform table with thresholds of individual criteria in four main categories is used - human health, economic activity, environment and cultural heritage.

12. The determined ASPFR (draft) are presented for consideration by the stakeholders and the public. ASPFR are approved by the Minister of the Environment and Water. The final version of RZPRN is presented in the form of lines to be selected only those sections of water bodies, which will be subsequently mapped the flood risk.

13. Flood hazard maps and flood risk maps After approval of ASPFR detailed maps of flood hazard will be produced, based on which it will be assessed the risk to human health, economic activity, environment and cultural heritage.  Flood hazard maps shall cover the geographical areas which could be flooded according to the following scenarios:: 1. With a low probability (likely return period 1000 years, unforeseeable events); 2. With medium probability (likely return period ≥ 100 years); 3. With high probability (likely return period ≥ 20 years).  Flood risk maps shall show the potential adverse consequences associated with the relevant flood scenarios and expressed in terms of the following:: 1. the indicative number of inhabitants potentially affected; 2. type of economic activity of the area potentially affected; 3. Sources of pollution, incl. installations listed in Annex № 4 to Art. 117 of the Environment protection act, which may cause accidental pollution in case of flooding, and protected water areas.

14. Flood Risk Management Plan Measures for reduction of likelihood of flooding and/ or reduction of potential adverse consequences. Measures must be focused at prevention, protection, preparedness, including forecast of flooding and early warning system. Coordination throughout the whole river basin, incl. neighbor countries; Application of the solidarity principle – no measures, increasing the risk (for another country) below the river valley; Measures may include: sustainable land use practices, improvement of water retention as well as the, controlled flooding of certain areas in the case of a flood event. For coordination of the activities in the country Catalog of objectives and measures for flood risk management and Methodology for assessing costs and benefits of the measures set out in PFRA is intended to be developed at national level. Update – every 6 years, incl. impact of climate change (PFRA-2018, Maps - 2019, FRMP -2021).

15. National Center for Water Management in Real Time (NCWMRT) The main functions of the NCWMRT will be: Provide real-time information on the quantity of water resources; Short, medium and long-term forecasting of water resources and assessing flood risk and drought risk; Perform activities, which are assigned by Flood risk management plans. Funding and implementation of the project is scheduled to take place within the Operational Programme "Environment 2014 - 2020". To achieve sustainable water use it is necessary that the responsible institutions have updated information in real time, especially during extreme events - floods and droughts. The solution of this problem is related to the establishment of a center, in which by an national system for monitoring, forecasting and processing of incoming updated information, effective decisions on water management will be taken.

16. Database for water bodies and water use Data from monitoring equipment: Rain gauge stations, Water level stations, Meteorological stations, local meteorological radar, Water quality monitoring system Data from NIMH forecast NCWMRT Data processing Hydrological and hydrodynamic model Precipitation – runoff model 1D River model → Results – exceeding / decreasing from the setup threshold Dissemination of results to stakeholders Taking appropriate action in case of forecasted flood / drought Establishment of the center will support the implementation of the requirements and commitments of Bulgaria to improve the water management and the management of flood risks.

17. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! http://www.moew.government.bg Ministry of environment and water