The outer part of flood-control dams, in places where these are adjacent to fields other than those belonging to the Water Fund, will be marked with a 15-meter wide strip along the dam. On these fields it will be forbidden to erect buildings or set up multiannual plantations, as prescribed by a regulation recently approved by the Government, Info-Prim Neo reports. Environment Minister Gheorghe Salaru explained that the authorities aim to reduce the impact of floods through this regulation. The regulation also stipulates the marking of the borders of the Water Fund, on the basis of technical documentation. This operation falls on the Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre, along with presenting complete information on technical states, maintenance terms and the person responsible for the usage of a particular dam segment. The dams’ technical passports will be issued by licensed individuals and legal entities. The passports will be renewed every 5 years. According to the Ministry of Environment, in Moldova, dams protect 93 settlements, summing to 250,000 people and 95 hectares of agricultural land. The investment necessary for repairing and maintaining dams is estimated at 270 million lei for the years 2011 through 2017. In 2011, 31.9 million lei from the National Environmental Fund were allocated for this purpose.