Eng. Simidchiev from Hydrolia: EU Water Resilience Strategy sets new priorities for the water sector and water and sanitation

From the 20^th to the 22^nd of May, in Sofia, took place The 2026 Danube Water Forum under the slogan "From Vision to Action: Building a Sustainable Danube Water Region". This traditional, yearly event was organized under the “Danube Water” program, managed by the IAWD (International Association of Water Service Companies in the Danube Region) and The World Bank and co-financed by the Austrian government. Hosts included the Bulgarian Water Association (BAW) and Sofia Water, and the 3 day event accumulated over 200 participants from 16 different countries.

Eng. Dobromir Simidchiev, manager of Hydrolia, a company that provides water asset management services in the private sector and is also a member of IAWD, participated in the program as both a moderator and a panelist. Regarding his observations and conclusions about the sector, provided during the event– ​​please read the following lines.

The discussions surrounding this year’s Danube Water Forum formed under the context of the new strategy by the European Union regarding sustainability in water and what its new priorities mean in practice for the water and sewerage companies in the region. "This panel presented the so-called sector status report, which is prepared based on data on key metrics from water and sanitation companies in the Danube region, which are subsequently compared by country. This comprehensive study allows us to monitor the state of the water infrastructure, but also the efficiency of the water and sanitation companies," explained Eng. Dobromir Simidchiev, who moderated the session, to BalkanEngineer.com.

He made several conclusions based on this analysis. Firstly, this is a huge effect, which the Urban Waste Water Directive has on the cleanliness of rivers. “The data shows that this is a very successful European policy,” he pointed out.

Also outlined was the tendency regarding the advancement of the water and sewage organizations. Metrics show that the most advanced locales in terms of water and sewage are older countries – members of the EU, such as Austria, The Czech Republic, Hungary. This is particularly true in the area of ​​wastewater collection, disposal and treatment. They are followed by countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, and finally by candidate countries, where the difference in development is even at the institutional level.

Photo source: Hydrolia