At this time there are 17 regions, 40 municipalities, 12 towns and 160 villages in Bulgaria where the water supply is broken. A total of 315,000 people are experiencing water rationing, announced Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Nikolay Nankov in parliament.

The biggest towns affected by water rationing are Lovech, Teteven, Pleven, Pernik, Dobrich, Kotel and Omurtag. Deputy Minister Nankov pointed out that the state should turn its attention to a maximum degree of European fund absorption and the effective use of public resources for the rehabilitation of the water supply system which, in most cases, was constructed 50-60 years ago. Unless new dams are built and old ones rehabilitated, Bulgaria will face a serious crisis in the long term connected with the normal supply of drinking water to a large portion of the population, Nikolay Nankov said.