SUPPORTING REPORT G Laws, Institution and Organization
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SUPPORTING REPORT G Laws, Institution and Organization The Study on Integrated Water Management Final Report in the Republic of Bulgaria Supporting Report G Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. i List of Tables ................................................................................................................... ii G LAWS, INSTITUTION AND ORGANIZATION ........................................... G-1 G.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ G-1 G.2 Laws ................................................................................................................... G-1 G.2.1 Requirements of the EU-WFD and the latest Water Act ...................... G-1 G.2.2 Present Situations for Legal Authorities by the latest Water Act .......... G-2 G.2.3 Legal Main Issues of the latest Water Act and the related Regulations ......................................................................................................... G-3 G.2.4 Improvement Proposals for the Water Act ............................................ G-5 G.3 Institution and Organization ............................................................................... G-6 G.3.1 Current Status and Issues of the Central Governments ........................ G-6 G.3.2 Current Status and Issues of the EABD ................................................ G-7 G.3.3 Current Status and Issues of the WABD ............................................. G-11 G.3.4 Gaps in the Existing River Basin Management Systems .................... G-14 G.3.5 Proposals on the Directions for Improvement of the Organizations and Institutions .................................................................................... G-16 JICA CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd. i Final Report The Study on Integrated Water Management Supporting Report G in the Republic of Bulgaria List of Tables Table G.3.1 Actual Authorities (Responsibilities) for Water Management in the EABD.................................................................................................. G-23 Table G.3.2 Actual Authorities (Responsibilities) for Water Management in the WABD ................................................................................................. G-27 ii JICA CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd. The Study on Integrated Water Management Final Report in the Republic of Bulgaria Supporting Report G G LAWS, INSTITUTION AND ORGANIZATION G.1 Introduction There are significant gaps between the expected image and results of the river basin management and the actual implementation by the existing river basin management systems. These gaps might have caused by several reasons including organizational and institutional reasons as well as insufficient understanding and cooperation from the water users and related agencies, and insufficient budget for the management activities. As the river basin management in Bulgaria has just started from 2002, the current system is still in initial stages and expected to be developed into a better management system in future. On the other hand, it could be pointed out that there are some important legal issues in particular the Water Act, related to present basin management in Bulgaria. This supporting report will describe the gaps as well as proposals for the directions of reform measures from the organizational and institutional as well as legal aspects. G.2 Laws G.2.1 Requirements of the EU-WFD and the latest Water Act The EU-WFD provides new basin management approaches such as “river basin unit principle for water management (water can only be managed within a river basin or basin district. Setting up competent authorities to implement and enforce this approach is required.”) and “integrated water management (integration is the fundamental concept on which all aspects i) environmental objectives, ii) all water resources, iii) all water uses, and iv) stakeholders and public participation of the EU-WFD)”. However, the EU-WFD does not regulate the organization and administration structure of the Member State of EU to implement the EU-WFD. It means that the EU-WFD does not set any concrete requirements as to the powers of the management bodies and their hierarchy, or demarcation to other existing administrative bodies. The only requirement is that the chosen administration structure should be efficiently functioning to operate the tasks and duties of the EU-WFD. On the other hand, the latest Water Act, which was amended on August 2006, also introduced new basin management approaches including “river basin unit principle for water management”, which is one of the new basin management approaches by the EU-WFD. Therefore, the latest Water Act may promote that a concerned basin directorate (competent authority) could implement the water management tasks more effectively within the basin district. But, at the same time, many ministries (the Council of the Ministers, MoEW, MoRDPW, MoAF, MoEE, MoH, and others) have each respective authority for main water management tasks by the latest Water. (1) The basic principles of the EU-WFD There are two important basic principles of the EU-WFD. The one is “integration”. This means of the integration includes: JICA CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd. G-1 Final Report The Study on Integrated Water Management Supporting Report G in the Republic of Bulgaria • Integration of environmental objectives (the EU-WFD integrates water quality, water quantity, and ecological conservation) • Integration of all water resources (surface water, ground water, wetland, and coastal water on a basin) • Integration of stakeholders (public participation, including all water users such as local peoples, private companies, and the public) The second basic principle is “river basin unit principle”, which mentioned previously. It means that one river basin directorate shall manage one river basin or some river basins. But, certain one river basin directorate shall not manage two or more river basins. Based on the above principles, at first, Member States of the EU are free to establish as many river basin directorates as possible taking into account of appropriate size of the river basin as well as available administrative capacity. Also, a management body for a river basin could be empowered to implement integrated all functions and achieve of requirements based on the above principles of the EU-WFD. Or if a certain water management functions by the EU-WFD are mandated to other administrative organizations (e.g. if an competent authority is shared with other organizations), the relationships and coordination between them shall be identified clearly by the Water Act. (2) Transposition of the EU-WFD into the latest Water Act in Bulgaria The basic principles and main requirements, which had not been transported into the previous Water Act, of the EU-WFD had been transported into the latest Water Act such as “integrated water management principle” (article 2), “characterization of the water management district”, “environmental objectives”, “program measures” (article 156), and “river basin management plans” (article 157). However, the EU-WFD has not been transported fully into the latest Water Act. For example, Annex VIII (Indicative List of the Main Pollutants) of the EU-WFD has not been transported yet into the latest Water Act with identifying each substance. G.2.2 Present Situations for Legal Authorities by the latest Water Act According to the latest Water Act, the following table shows present main authorities, which are related to more concrete water management responsibilities and actions by each organization in Bulgaria. G-2 JICA CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd. The Study on Integrated Water Management Final Report in the Republic of Bulgaria Supporting Report G Organizations (Agency) Main Authorities Council of Ministers • Award concessions for extraction of minerals, waters constituting exclusive state property • Permit use of waters for the purposes of national defense and natural security • Impose restrictions on the use of waters in unforeseeable or exceptional circumstances MoEW • Implement the state policy of water management • Endorse the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) • Issue permits for water abstraction and/or use in the cases provided under the Act • Control the quantity and quality of waters • Control the design parameters of water development facilities and system. EEA-MoEW • Implement water monitoring on a national level • Maintain the national level geographical information system about the conditions of waters RIEW-MoEW • Implement waste water monitoring • Control sites generating waste waters • Control emergency discharges of waste waters Basin Directorate (BD) - • Develop the RBMPs of concerned river basin MoEW • Issue the permit under the Act (for water abstraction and/or use in the without cases that the MoEW issues) • Control the activities (the extraction of sand/gravel, etc.) in riverbeds MoH • Control the quality of waters intended for drinking, household uses, and bathing • Control the quality of mineral waters intended for drinking or hygienic purposes, including bottled mineral waters. MoRDPW • Control the state of water bodies and water development systems and facilities within the competences thereof MoAF - ditto - MoEE - ditto - MoT • Control the use of internal waters for transportation purposes •