Solution-Seeking for Flood Problems in Maritsa River

The Maritsa River, forming the border between the Turkey's western neighbours Greece and Bulgaria as well as being a transboundary river, has been going through flood problems for years. Especially during flood periods, the basin within the Turkish territory become flooded; agricultural lands and cities are damaged, and large-scale economic losses occur. 

The Maritsa River (Evros/Meriç), which is the second largest river of the Southeastern Europe following the Danube River, is 530 km long. The riparians, from its source towards the estuary, are Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece. The 66% of the basin is found in Bulgaria, 28% in Turkey, and 6% in Greece. The average flow of the river is 147 m3/sec on the Meriç Bridge point. 

There are rich historical records, which are related to the floods taking place on the Maritsa River Basin. In the historical archives, it was recorded that in 1897 a great flood took place in the region. The subsequent floods taking place in 1940 and 1964 were catastrophic disasters. Within the last 20 years,  embankments have been built on the river banks by Turkey and Greece. Especially when the river discharge exceeds 2.500m3 /sec, floods take place in both parties as a result of either overflow or embankment breakages.

Private sector is the primary actor in management of water resources in Bulgaria. All the hydroelectric generation is provided by the private sector. These companies aiming at maximum energy generation hold water levels in reservoirs at the maximum level throughout the year. Conversely to this situation, the highest level of water in the reservoirs should be  the lowest possible level in order to have capacity to keep the flood water.   

The fact that the private sector completely took over the hydroelectric energy generation in Bulgaria, has led to the operation of dams at the maximum levels. During the heavy-rain periods, this situation constitutes one of the significant underlying causes of the floods.  The lower-riparian countries: Turkey and Greece have been offering cooperation in order to prevent floods to the upper-riparian Bulgaria for a  long time. This request  is being constantly refused by Bulgaria.       

Turkey's important suggestion related to floods is the Suakacağı (Tunca) Dam project which is envisaged to be built over the border between Turkey and Bulgaria. With the dam that is proposed to be built over the Danube river, water will be held during the flood periods; Tunca plain and slopes will be irrigated; and power will be generated through a hydroelectric  plant to be built in the Bulgarian territory, over the right-hand coast of the river. The dam, the constructions plans of which date back to 1960s, will assume a major role in solving the flood problem. Turkey and Bulgaria have held numerous meetings on the subject of the aforesaid dam for many years. The protocol of the Fifteenth Session of the Turkish-Bulgarian Joint Committee for Economic and Technical Cooperation was signed in 2000. Within the framework of the subtitle of environment, both countries agreed to improve the cooperation in environment protection related to surface and groundwaters. For the Suakacağı Dam, which is envisaged to be constructed within the scope of the “Environment and Energy” subtitle of the aforesaid Protocol, Turkey demanded inclusion in the project of a technical group with experts from both countries. Both countries came to an agreement as a result of a series of  meetings held in Sofia in 2006. However, the construction of the dam which was envisaged  to be built between 2009 – 2012 has not started yet. Despite the fact that both countries came to an agreement and protocols were signed on construction of the dam, Bulgaria does not approve its construction. According to Bulgaria, the construction of the dam will not be beneficial for Bulgaria; and the tailwater of the dam will be in Bulgaria. Based on the aforementioned arguments, Bulgaria is not granting approval for construction of the dam. Nevertheless, its construction which is expected to control the flood waters and save the neighbouring cities from flooding, is essential for Turkey. On October 23, 1968, Turkey and Bulgaria signed “The Agreement on the Cooperation of the Use of the Waters in the Rivers Flowing in the Soils of the Two Countries”. In accordance with the aforesaid agreement, the Technical working group was formed. Focusing on technical cooperation such as establishing measurement stations, data sharing and an early warning system, the technical working group has been continuing their works. However, according to the agreement signed in 1968, Bulgaria is required to cooperate in order to eliminate Turkey's suffering from floods. But due to Bulgaria's failure to cooperate, the agreement cannot be implemented throroughly.                               

As it is known, Bulgaria is a member of the EU. EU member countries are supposed to implement both the EU Water Framework Directive and also the Flood Directive in cooperation with riparian countries on national and transboundary water basins. In the Paragraph 2 of Article 8 under the Chapter 4 entitled, “Flood Risk Management Plans” of the Flood Directive, it is foreseen that in the international river basins exceeding the boundaries of the union such as the Maritsa river, the member states should create a single international flood risk management plan, or in the level of international river basins it is foreseen that they should create a coordinated flood risk plans. Bulgaria has been progressing positively in the process of applying the Flood Directive. Nevertheless, the upper riparian Bulgaria fails to cooperate since it does not suffer from large-scale damage when it comes to Maritsa and its tributaries: Arda and Tunca rivers.   

Turkey has entered the process of building Çömlekköy dam as a back up plan. The Çömlekköy dam which is envisaged to be built over the Tunca river will fulfill the irrigation needs of the region, but it will not contribute to flood control.    

The flood problem in the basin cannot be solved, and water resources would not be benefited from in case of lack of cooperation. In order for Bulgaria to take part in the process, cooperation should be encouraged and a cooperation framework should be formed on a mutual benefit basis.