During a work meeting of the Monitoring committee under the project that was held in December in Giurgiu, Romania was reported the progress achieved in the implementation of the activities by the team of the Bulgarian partner – Regional inspectorate for Environment and Waters in Veliko Turnovo. The public report encompasses all interim outcomes from the project distributed into modules as follows:
Module 1 – Prevention – first steps are taken with regards to the exchange of information and building of partnership between RIEW Veliko Turnovo and Romanian institutions from Bucharest and Craiova concerning the development of joint systems for decrease of antropogenic risks and design of a joint manual „Guidelines for risk prevention in the cross border area of the Danube river“ by which to support and assist the staff responsible from Bulgaria and Romania.
Module 2 Intervention – preliminary research is conducted to provide specialized equipment and technical devices to improve the activities related to risk management. Tender documentation is prepared and two public tenders have been held according the requirements and in compliance with the Ordinance for public tender.
Module 3 Control – in cooperation with the Romanian partner National Environmenal Guard we finalize the design and development of a „Joint procedure for actions in cases of pollution with cross border impact“ dedicated to partners real time communication and joint decision-making with regards to limiting the pollution and its harmful impact upon the environment. Experts from RIEW are currently working on the development of a common methodology for presenting best practices for control of pollution with cross-border impact in the Danube river basin.
Module 4 Monitoring – there starts the identification of sources of pollution for the environment in the cross border area. As a result of the research carried out and joint inspections conducted in the year 2012 there will be proposed a Common Methodology for environmental inspections of objects that hold complex permits under IPPC and SEVESO Directives.
Module 5 Risk Evaluation – the experts responsible from RIEW Veliko Turnovo are currently working on the determination of unified indicators for evaluation of the water condition in compliance with the EU Framework directive on waters and the national laws of both Romania and Bulgaria. A procedure is conducted to select an advisor and consultancy for joint evaluation of the condition of the water in the Danube river area on Bulgarian and Romanian territory. .
During the first stage of the project in compliance with the budget approved and the schedule of activities to be held there have been spent over 63 000 EUR for the implementation of events and initiatives under the project all of which were completed timely achieving at the same time project goals. Following the inspections conducted by controlling bodies of first level, appointed by the National partner institution under the Programme, Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, 100 % of the costs incurred have been reimbursed.
The advantages and benefits of this project and the activities completed lie in the opportunity for RIEW Veliko Turnovo to be supplied with modern equipment and methodology that will help this institution to handle successfully in future all types of risk that could possibly arise and by means of the mechanisms granted by cross border cooperation to be more able to prevent and eliminate the negative effect from anthropogenic pollution.
