Small rivers run dry

Small rivers in Moldova may run dry because of the drought and the large levees erected in recent years to avoid flooding on the Prut and the Nistru, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Ministry of the Environment Gheorghe Salaru, small rivers remain without water sources and during the drought some of them may disappear. “We have built dams on the two big rivers, the Prut and the Nistru, so that water coming from rains and melting snows is accumulated and directed to the Black Sea. We have drained many rivers to avoid floods and now wells and smaller rivers run dry. We must know where drainage is needed and where not, so that our rivers lived naturally”, said Gheorghe Salaru in a government meeting. According to the National Weather Service, at the beginning of July, the discharge levels of the Nistru and the Prut were much lower than the usual ones, about 30%-50% of the multiannual minimum values for this period of the year. At the same time, the discharge levels of small rivers dropped to 20-40% of the multiannual values.