In the Republic of Moldova, the registry of lake, pond, and reservoir owners is incomplete and unclear, and the technical condition of many dams is unsatisfactory or even dangerous.
According to a response provided by the Ministry of Environment to the IPN press agency, the cadastral registers usually only record the lands where these bodies of water are located, not the hydraulic structures, such as dams. Also, some lands are incorrectly registered as agricultural lands, not as lands from the water fund, which complicates the determination of the number and legal status of the owners. In the absence of a clear reporting obligation on the part of local authorities, the exact number of lakes in use remains unknown.
The Ministry specifies that during the period 2018-2019, over 6700 lakes, ponds, and marshes were identified as part of a partial inventory, distributed between the Nistru hydrographic basin district and the Danube-Prut and Black Sea basin district. Currently, the state manages 40 bodies of water, and for 205 lands, it is necessary to establish legal ownership, the remaining 6518 belong to the administrative-territorial units.
The Ministry of Environment also states that in 2019 a technical expertise was carried out on the dams – 3,574 in total. Of these, the majority – over 2,400 are in good or satisfactory condition, over 600 are in unsatisfactory condition, over 250 are partially destroyed, 80 are completely destroyed, and 5 dams are unfinished. As for the water level, 2,730 bodies of water were full, while 843 were nearly or completely dried up.
The condition of the dams in the Nistru hydrographic basin is currently being evaluated as part of a project run by UNDP Moldova. The dams in the Prut basin will be included later, depending on the available financial resources. In general, the technical condition of the dams is moderately good, but the old ones pose risks, and checks can only be made by authorized experts. Dams built before 1996, which have exceeded their operating life, must undergo technical expertise paid for by the owners.
The Ministry of Environment’s response to IPN indicates that from 2016 to the present, 905 lake exploitation regulations have been registered, of which 514 belong to legal entities and 391 to individuals. All these managers use the ponds and reservoirs for economic purposes, such as irrigating agricultural lands, fish farming, and recreational activities.
According to the standard regulation, each owner is obliged to hold and fill out five registers, among which is the water level observation register. With the recent amendments to the regulation, owners must send data quarterly to the State Hydrometeorological Service and annually, by May 1, to the National Administration “Waters of Moldova”. The data is collected with the help of hydrometric rods mounted on booms or discharge towers and is included in the Automated Information System “State Water Cadastre”.
Currently, water level monitoring is carried out at several unique and indivisible bodies of water, such as: Costesti-Stanca, Dubasari, Ghidighici, Beleu, Manta, Dracele, Nistrul Chior, Rotunda, and Salas.
Regarding the flood protection embankments, the state manages 59 embankments with a total length of approximately 700 km. Their condition is evaluated as being very good, good, or satisfactory.
