The City Hall could soon consider the possibility of raising water charges again, Chisinau Mayor General Dorin Chirtoaca made it clear at Monday’s meeting of the City Hall. He said that the present tariff of 5 lei does not fully cover the water supplier’s expenses. The mayor instructed the deputy mayor Vladimir Cotet to keep under control the water supply services in the municipality so as to improve them. “The current charge does not correspond to the cost and we will have to adjust it, but until then we must ensure a better quality of the water supply so that the population understands the necessity of raising the tariff,” the mayor said. In a letter to the management of SA Apa-Canal Chisinau (ACC), the mayor asked the water supplier to work out a communication strategy aimed at changing public perception of the running of this service. The ACC director Constantin Becciev said that the company makes effort to provide an optimal service at a time when the tariff does not fully cover the expenses. He stated that ACC will soon broader inform the people about the company’s activity. Constantin Becciev also said that during the winter holidays, the water supplier received about 1,000 applications from residents and dealt with about 900 accidents, mostly leaks in gray pig iron pipes of 300 and 500 mm that are old and must be replaced The ACC management says that they take immediate action to fix the problems in winter, working together with the “Exdrupo” division that clears the streets of ice and spreads antiskid material. During the winter holidays, the company fixed a rupture of the water main of 1 200 mm that supplies the municipality of Chisinau. The accident occurred between the settlements Vadul Lui Voda and Tohatin. As there are three such mains, the water supplier made the necessary hydraulic changes and the Chisinau consumers have not been cut off from the water supply system, Becciev said. The mayor general asked the administration of ACC to hold a meeting with representatives of the relevant local authorities to find solutions and remedy the problem of old aqueducts.