The President’s initiative to allow irrigating high value crops with water from artesian wells is an adventure that will undermine Moldova’s ecological security, chairman of the Ecologist Movement of Moldova Alecu Reniţă said when he was asked by IPN to pronounce on this project.

Alecu Reniţă said there are strategic reserves of drinking water for over 3 million people beneath the ground. If this water is used in irrigation, it can be wasted swiftly and there will be no drinking water at all. Over 70% of the rural population does not yet have access to drinking water.

The water, the springs disappear from wells in tens of localities of Moldova. Of the over 3,000 small rivers existing in the country, a large part have become dry. “There were persons who interfered with different ecosystems and destroyed them. When you destroy an ecosystem, you unbalance a large region,” stated Alecu Reniţă, noting that if the radioactive cloud from Chernobyl had come to Moldova in 1986, all the surface water would have been contaminated radioactively and become unfit for use.

Researches show that Moldova’s groundwater contains a high percentage of mineralization and mineral salts go to soil together with water. “There are studies showing that if groundwater is used in irrigation, the soil will be affected and we risk not only losing water, but also destroying the fertility of soil. The soil will be covered with a layer of salt on hundreds of hectare and not even desert vegetation will grow there,” explained the ecologist.

According to Alecu Reniţă, two important things should be remembered when considering the possibility of allowing irrigation from artesian wells – that drinking water is consumed and that soil resources are destroyed. 3 million people will remain without water and this is terrible. Modern irrigation systems should be built based on surface water. The over 16,000 km of irrigation systems existing in Moldova should be restored.

The ecologist added that of the over 3,000 small rivers existing in Moldova, none of them has water that would meet the drinking water standards. “This means that any locality, in case of a catastrophe or lack of water could not give water to animals at least,” he stated.

In the program “President Responds”, President Igor Dodon said that Parliament, at the request of farmers and on the President’s initiative, in April modified the law and allowed irrigation from ponds and lakes even if these are private ones. “This is not enough! As to the second initiative, we asked that our colleagues from the Government by end-July allow irrigation from artesian wells for high value crops, such as orchards,” stated the official.