The Trend of Decreasing of the Generated Municipal Waste Continues and in 2016 the Quantity Drops to 2881 Thousand Tons
The National Statistical Institute presents to the users results from annual surveys in the domain of environmental statistics for 2016.
Compared with the previous year in 2016 significant changes are not recorded in the volume of water abstracted at the national level. In 2016, abstracted freshwaters for the economy is estimated to 5 689 million m3 or by about 1.1% more compared to 2015. This increase is formed mainly by abstraction from surface sources, while the abstraction of water from groundwater sources remained stable. Decline in abstraction from artificial reservoirs by 8.3% compared to 2015 to 2 222 million m3 are registered whereas water abstraction from Danube river increased.
In 2016 structure of water abstracted on national level is relatively stable 15.4% from fresh water are abstracted from Public water supply, for Agriculture, forestry and fishing - 16.0%, Energy cooling - 64.6% , Other - 4.0%.
Water is provided through public water supply, irrigation systems or self-supply. The total use of freshwater and non-freshwater for economy in 2016 is estimated at 4 721 million m3 compared stable with the previous year. The main factor have water for cooling processes in the energy sector, as it accounts for 78% of the water used in the country and there is no change in comparison to year 2015. Water used for irrigation in the agricultural sector declined - by 3.3% compared to 2015 to 306 million m3 . Water consumption in the service sector also decreased, while water use from households remains the same. There are no significant changes in the structure of water-use activities compared to 2015.
99.3 % of the population in the country is connected with the public water supply. Household water consumption in 2016 is estimated to 100 liters per day on average per person (2015 - 99 l/day/per capita). Above the average for the country is the household water consumption in the Yugozapaden region (118 l/day/per capita).
The total water losses in the public water supply sector in 2016 is estimated to be about 517 million m3 or 56.8% of the supplied water (57.9% in 2015), which are mainly formed on the water-supply network (real losses). The length of the newly built and rebuilt / replaced water supply network in 2016 is 603 km and the total for the period 2010 - 2016 - 3 637 km. Most of the incoming and distribution pipelines were built before 1990 (86.5%), mainly from eternit and steel pipes (according to PWS data, 2015).
The trend of decreasing of the generated municipal waste continues and in 2016 the quantity drops to 2881 thousand tons or by 4.3% less compared to 2015. Registered а reduction of the relative share of municipal waste disposed of for landfill was - from 61.6% in 2015 to 48.0% in 2016. At the same time, the share of municipal waste handed over for pre-treatment - from 33.3% (2015) to 49.2% (2016).
Regional waste management systems continue to be built. While closed constructed in the past landfills that do not meet environmental requirements. The total number of registered landfills in operation in the year 2016 is 125, some of them being facilities from the regional waste management systems. Because of the introduction of organized waste management systems in new settlements, the relative share of the population covered by organized waste collection and transportation systems increased and in 2016 it reached 99.7% of the total population of the country. Waste generated an average per capita shows the pressure on the environment. By this indicator, Bulgaria is below the average rate for Europe (480 kg /capita /year). In 2016, the amount of waste generated in the country is estimated on average 406 kg/per capita or 13 kg. less than year 2015. Regional data show that in 2016 lead in generated municipal waste per capita was the Yugozapaden region of the country (478 kg/capita/Year) and last - Severozapaden region (282 kg /capita/Year).