The Republic of Moldova can remain without water if financial and institutional efforts are not made and the population does not became involved to remove the water pollution sources. In the Republic of Moldova, wastewater is a to problem of water as this is insufficiently treated or is not at all treated when it comes from sewerage systems or from the household sector and business entities.

In a news conference at IPN, the head of the National Environmental Center Ina Coșeru said that environmental infrastructure is needed to control the pollution with wastewater and waste and to improve the treatment of wastewater and waste management. But this is costly and necessitates not only the mobilization of foreign resources from the development partners, but also the mobilization of the available internal resources. Wastewater treatment stations should be built in localities and at companies.

According to Ina Coșeru, after the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment was created, its communication with the public disappeared. When the regulations on groundwater irrigation were proposed, it was clear that the agricultural interests were placed above the environmental protection. The Ministry of Environment should be restored as a separate institution led by professionals, who would implement an appropriate environmental policy.

Iuliana Cantaragiu, deputy head of the National Environmental Center, said the water in the transboundary rivers, the Prut and the Nistru, is not good for irrigation and for being drunk by animals either. The state’s list of priorities never included the management of wastewater. Therefore, a lot of water pipelines have been built the past few years, neglecting the source of water. The quality of the source of water depends on the pollution sources. As long as water supply systems were built without sewerage and wastewater treatment stations, a larger source of pollution was generated.

Currently, 82.1% of the urban population and 38.7% of the rural population have access to water supply systems. Only 64% of the inhabitants of towns and 2.8% of the residents of villages have access to sewerage systems. During the last five years, water supply systems were built in many rural areas, but there are no sewerage systems there and this is not good. Also, many of the towns, not to mention the villages, do not have wastewater treatment stations or these stations are outdated, noted Iuliana Cantaragiu.

World Water Day is annually celebrated on March 22.