Half of Bulgaria could be affected by severe droughts in coming years, UN report

Water levels in all rivers in the country are lower because of the dry weather this summer. The information comes from hydrologists, who say that smaller rivers in many places are almost dry in their upper reaches. According to a UN report, half of Bulgaria is expected to be affected by severe droughts in the coming years.

This summer has been relatively dry, meteorologists say. The final assessment will be clear after the summer months are over.

"In Bulgaria, like much of Central and Western Europe, there are strong indications of drought. Last July, most of the country had below-average rainfall for the month, calculated for the past 10 years. The driest spells have been across the Danube Plain, most of the Upper Thracian Lowland and especially central parts of eastern Bulgaria. In July, these areas received the least rainfall, reaching only 20 per cent of the normal rainfall for the month," Assoc. Prof.,Hristo Chervenkov, from the Climatology Section – National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology says.

Nearly half of EU countries are suffering from drought, which is hampering agriculture, energy production and water supply, according to the European Commission's research centre. And international experts predict that global warming and climate change will lead to increasingly intense and prolonged droughts in the coming years.

According to a UN report, Bulgaria will be among the most drought-affected countries in the world in the coming years. If climate change is allowed to worsen in the longer term, experts warn that droughts will affect more people than any pandemic. In other words, it will become the next pandemic and, unfortunately, there will be no vaccine to cure it.

According to the report, because of the looming drought, an increasing number of people will be living in stress, as at certain times the demand for water will far exceed the supply.