About 230 settlements with over 2 million residents will be supplied with drinking water in a centralised way by 2012. This will be possible by improving the efficiency of the existent water mains Soroca-Balti and Vadul lui Voda – Chisinau and by extending the zones served by these. All the settlements in the country would have water supply and sewerage systems, under the strategy on sewerage and water supply approved by the Government on Wednesday. At the Government meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Public Administration Vitalie Vrabie said that the first implementation stage, 2008-2012, will cost 3.6 billion lei. Some 30 billion lei is needed to implement the second stage of the project, 2012 – 2025. The project will be financed from the State Budget, from credits and foreign investment. The population will also contribute. The key water source of Moldova is the Nistru River, which accounts for about 83% of the total. The Prut River accounts for 1% and the authorities consider that its potential is not put to good use. Moldova has sufficient water resources, including underground, which can be supplied as drinking water, Vrabie said. According to him, the underground waters in some settlements do not meet the quality standards because they contain much chlorine, including in Nisporeni, Falesti, and Ungheni. Some 66% or 1,032 settlements, counting three municipalities, 52 towns and 977 rural settlements have centralised water supply systems at present. Many of these systems are worn-out and cannot be used. Currently, only 49% of the population has access to public water supply systems, while the rest use water from wells, the minister said. The $2 million funds of the European Union are used to implement sewerage and waster supply projects in 16 settlements, including Anenii-Noi, Bucovat, Criuleni, Drochia. The funds provided by Sweden and Switzerland will be used in other 30 settlements. Kuwait offered last year a loan for aqueducts in six settlements. Under the Government’s decision, the Ministry of Finance will plan investments for financing the projects included in the strategy on sewerage and water supply in the next year’s budget.