Establishment of a Water Management System for the Iskar river basin (WMS-IBR) as Phase I of the National Real Time Water Management System (NRTWMS)

The implementation of the Flood Directive calls for actions aiming at reducing the risk of adverse consequences for human health and the environment and is a part of the Water Framework Directive Common Implementation Strategy. A main step in this direction is the establishment of a National Real Time Water Management System (NRTWMS), which is an integrated interinstitutional instrument for operational monitoring and management of the country’s inland waters with a single managerial decision-making body. The system will provide web-based monitoring of the rapidly changing characteristics of the water cycle (precipitation, snowmelt, river flow) and prognoses of the river flow in order to enable effective management decision making and a proper distribution of tasks between all public bodies involved in management and operation – MoEW, Basin Directorates, National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, National Electricity Company, Irrigation Systems Company, district and municipal administrations, etc. – in periods of both high water levels and drought. The establishment of the system has been planned in two phases and the current project represents Phase one – establishment of a system in the Iskar river basin as a pilot activity. The basis for the development of the system shall be the existing hydrological information system for acquisition of real time data, which in the case of proven necessity shall be optimized and modernized with automatic telemetry devices. The system shall prognosticate in the short, medium and long term perspective the country’s inland water resources; assess flood and drought risk, and perform functions related to water management and protection from adverse effects of water, allowing for timely decision making and adequate response from both the administrative structures and the public.

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