The business entities in Chisinau until the end of this year will pay a water pollution tax calculated based on the old formula, but should yet comply with the legal provisions and build pre-treatment stations by the end of this December, IPN reports.
In a meeting with businessmen, “Apa-Canal Chisinau” (ACC) director general Veronica Herta said that all the entrepreneurs should be equal and should pay taxes according to the water pollution level. Recently, the over 800 pre-treatment contracts signed by the ACC and business entities were terminated and replaced with new ones. Under the legislation, each business entity, regardless of the industrial sector where it operates, should have a pre-treatment station so that the quality of wastewater could be determined. If the pollution level exceeds the limits, the entrepreneurs will pay a differentiated tariff.
Until now, the entrepreneurs worked based on a coefficient that determined the maximally admissible concentrations. Some of the business entities were often favored and a very low coefficient was indicated in the contract, even if the wastewater population level according to the kind of activity was rather high.
Attending the meeting, businessmen said for May they received much higher bills than earlier and asked to be given a time limit to comply with the new requirements and set up pre-treatment stations. Some of the businessmen asked to take new samples of water from them as the last samples were collected several years ago and are irrelevant.
Veronica Herta said the water supplier will collect samples from all the companies with which it signed contacts until the end of this year and the business entities will pay taxes depending on the water pollution level.
In the same meeting, Iuliana Cantaragiu, projects expert at the National Environmental Center, said the conditions imposed by the ACC derive from the legislation and are aimed at protecting the environment and the population’s health. The companies will decide whether to assume the investment in a pre-treatment station and to thus pay lower pollution taxes or to pay higher taxes for the water treated by “Apa-Canal Chisinau”.
