Minister Julian Popov issued an order obliging the regional environmental and water inspectorates (RIEWs) to issue instructions to all municipalities within the territory under their control to inspect riverbeds and catchment ravines by March 29. Where pollution is found, action must be taken to remove it and subsequently maintain the riverbeds and adjacent areas clean.

After the deadline elapses, from the beginning of April, the RIEWs will start inspections to establish the results of the measures implemented. In the event of non-compliance, administrative and punitive measures will be taken in respect to municipal leaders.

According to the Waste Management Act, mayors are responsible for preventing the dumping of waste in unauthorised places and for organising their clean-up. The administrative sanction for failure to comply with these obligations is a fine for mayors in the amount of 3 000 to 10 000 BGN.

The aim of these control measures is to prevent and avoid litter pollution in some of the most vulnerable areas - riverbeds, catchment gullies and their adjacent areas.

The Ministry appeals to citizens to be environmentally responsible and to dispose of waste only in the permitted areas and, if they encounter unregulated dumping sites, to report their location to the relevant municipality or RIEW.

RIEWs are administrative structures under the Minister of Environment and Water that ensure the implementation of state environmental policy at regional level. There are 15 regional inspectorates in the MOEW system covering theterritory of the entire country. Their main function is to monitor the implementation of the legal acts regulating the quality of environmental components and the factors affecting them - in terms of protection of air, water and soil from pollution and damage, proper management of waste and hazardous chemical substances and mixtures, protection of biodiversity, prevention and limitation of industrial pollution, etc.