State needs about USD 60-100 mln to rehabilitate water systems

The state’s expenses for the renovation works of water systems may amount to USD 60-100 mln. A similar sum is necessary for investments to create and improve the sewerage system, the UNDP report, which was launched Wednesday November 9, in Chisinau, shows. According to the report, a number of 1,000 sewerage and water supply systems are in need of renovation in 1500 settlements of Moldova. At present, only 33% of the Moldova’s inhabitants have access to water via aqueduct systems, while the sewerage systems serve only 28% of the population. The report shows that the budgetary allocations to Moldova for the sewerage and water supply systems comprise 0.5 % of the Domestic Gross Product, while the US Human Development Report 2006 suggests the Governments to spend on water at least 1%. In the Budget for 2006, the capital investments intended to the sanitation, sewerage and drinking water supply systems comprised 53 mln lei of the total budget of 10 bln lei. Moldova has important water resources, though their accumulation take place mainly due to the transborder rivers as Danube, Dniester and Prut. The total volume of the surface waters, which run across Moldova, is of over 13 bln cubic meters annually. Moldova’s underground water resources are of 1.1 bln cubic meters a year, 400 mln of which are qualified as drinking water sources. Thus, 4000 cubic meters annually of water resources belong to each inhabitant of Moldova. Moreover, there are 300,000 wells in Moldova, but 70% of their water volume do not meet the security standards for health. To achieve the Millennium Development Goal concerning the sustainable access to safe water sources, Moldova must supply over 1.2 mln people with drinking water according to the sanitary standards by 2015. The significant deterioration of the qualitative water in the rivers and surface waters in Moldova is a serious threat to the people’s health, the reports shows. Thus, Moldovan population runs a risk of diseases caused by the polluted drinking water. In 2005, compared to 2004, the number of intestinal infections increased by 1,28 times, bacterial dysentery– by 1,4 times and hepatitis С – by 1,08 times. The total number of socially conditioned diseases, as well as tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea and pediculosis comprised 367.5 persons per 100,000 inhabitants.