• It will serve as a model for upgrading and implementing a real-time National Water Management System for the remaining 12 river basins in the country
• 3 million citizens from 8 municipalities along the Iskar River will have free access to current information on the state of the water level and volume and will be warned in the event of a threat of flooding or water shortage

A public portal that enables users to receive specific data on the condition of the Iskar river basin will be available by the end of the year under the project for the creation of a real-time water management system in the Iskar river basin. The users, who will enter information into the system, will include specialists from the MOEW, the “National Electricity Company” EAD, “Irrigation Systems” EAD, the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, and the State Enterprise “Management and Maintenance of Dams”.

The pilot project is in its final stage of implementation, whereby initially the prevention and protection measures cover the residents of 8 municipalities along the Iskar River. It is funded under by Operational Program “Environment” 2014-2020 with the amount of 6.964 million BGN, of which 15% constitutes national funding.

The public portal will provide free access to current information about the water level and volume in the dams and the level of the rivers with stations built in the river basin. It will inform the approximately 1.3 million citizens who live on the territory of the municipalities along the river - Sofia, Svoge, Kostinbrod, Elin Pelin, Gorna Malina, Slivnitsa, Roman, and Botevgrad.

The project implementation also foresees the preparation of a comprehensive concept for real-time water management in Bulgaria. The new system will serve as a model for upgrading and implementing a real-time National Water Management System for the remaining 12 river basins in the country. The necessary actions are being taken to continue the funding for the measure under the “Environment 2021-2027” Program. It is part of the development of a comprehensive concept for the water management in Bulgaria under normal conditions and in the event of unforeseen circumstances - high water and low water.

The new water management system will forecast the country’s domestic water resources in the short, medium and long term, assess the risk of floods and droughts, enabling timely decisions and reactions, both by the administration and the population.

The construction of the pilot system is a measure included in the Flood Risk Management Plan for the Danube region for water management.

Currently, the water management system in the Iskar river basin is in pilot operation mode. Monitoring is being carried out of the implementation of the planned and expected actions, functions, results, processes of information exchange and interaction, production time,. And other aspects related to guaranteeing the quality of overall implementation.