Unprecedented in the last 70 years: The Danube dropped by 7 cm in one day. Three counties, without water for irrigation. Farmers ask for help

The Minister of the Environment, Tanczos Barna, said on Monday that the level of the Danube is decreasing, that the low flow is recorded right from the entrance to the country due to the drought and heat situation in Europe, but he added that at the moment there is no risk for the operation of the Cernavodă plant.

“It is an extremely complicated situation,” said the Minister of the Environment. “The level of the Danube is also affected by the drought in Europe, not only in Romania. We are focusing on maintaining water reserves in the large reservoirs managed by Apele Române or Hidroelectrica, to ensure continuity. Even in these conditions, the water level is much below the annual average. At the moment we have the flow to ensure the operation of the Cernavodă plant. We monitor the situation daily. There is no risk now for Cernavodă,” the minister assured yet.

“For 70 years, something like this has not happened, to have such a drop in the Danube: minus 7 centimeters only in the last 24 hours, director Dolj.

In the Nedeia-Măceşu part, where we have the floating stations that take water from the Danube in order to be able to transmit it to the farmers through canals, the Danube has dropped minus 7 centimeters in the last 24 hours,” said Director of the National Land Improvement Agency (ANIF) – Dolj Branch, Veta Păsculescu.

Moreover, three counties – Teleorman, Olt and Dolj – were left without water for irrigation due to the low level of the Danube, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Petre Daea.

The president of the Romanian Farmers’ Association (AFR), Daniel Botănoiu, warned that the extreme drought affects Romania’s agricultural production this year, but it will also have an impact on the next agricultural year, as the works will not be able to be executed on time and with quality.

He believes that the irrigation system should be adapted to new technologies that have maximum efficiency for plants, but drought-tolerant plant varieties should also be used. “We have to consider the autumn crops and the ones from the spring of this year when we discuss the agricultural year in its entirety. If in the case of cereals there were somewhat better results, but here we are also talking about 35% reductions compared to the previous year, in the case of this year’s spring crops the situation is difficult.”

“It is an extremely difficult agricultural year, much more difficult than the year 2020, especially since we are discussing a major water deficit, we have soil drought and tiny amounts of water available. Now the lack of investments from recent years in the irrigation system can be seen best, although there is a program with enough money to carry out these works”, Daniel Botănoiu also said.

According to the quoted source, the most affected crops are those sown in the spring of this year: corn, sunflower, soy, fodder, vegetables, but pastures are equally affected. He said that currently he cannot make estimates regarding the area affected by the drought, these data will be announced by the damage assessment commissions established at the county level.