1. Water Security Diagnostic and Future Outlook Republic of Moldova
MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI AL REPUBLICII MOLDOVA
Water Security Diagnostic and Future Outlook Republic of Moldova
A Work in Progress
Mr. Andrian Delinschi, Head of Integrated Water Resources Management and Policy Department
Ms. Maria Prisacari, Head of Regional Policies Department, North Regional Development Agency
Ms. Susanna Smets, Sr. Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, World Bank
Danube Water Conference – May 21, 2019
Vienna - Austria

2. MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
Water Security is about optimizing the benefits from water for the people, environment, economy
Sustaining and leveraging water resources
Delivering water services
Building resilience and managing risks
World Bank and Republic of Moldova embarked on joint assessment and stakeholder process:
“Water Security Diagnostic and Future Outlook”
Objective is to inform decision-makers about possible water development pathways and provide evidence
to identify key water security challenges
to guide policy reforms
to help prioritize investment decisions and trade-offs
Build
Resilience

3. MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
Moldova context
3.55 m people, 55 percent rural and declining
Moderate growth, relatively high poverty of 11 percent
EU Accession Agreement (2016) shapes water policy
Government prioritizes transport, higher education, and justice reform, as well as infrastructure and water
Moldova is highly dependent on surface water resources from transboundary Prut and Nistru rivers
90 percent of renewable water resource stem from surface water and 10 percent from groundwater
Total annual renewable water resources (> 3,000 m3/cap/yr) not within physical scarcity
Storage capacity is limited (728 m3/cap)
Climate change and upstream development of water use may increase water stress

4. MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
Why does Water Security Matter?
Sustaining and Leveraging Water Resources:
Cost of droughts every 5-7 years
Agriculture a corner stone of the rural economy
Irrigated area declined tenfold (35,000ha now)… uptake by farmers not optimal
Export of vegetable products is a quarter of all exports…still reliant on low-value crops
Water management reforms are in progress
Is there water available and an economic justification to expand and modernize irrigation services, required for high-value agriculture?

5. MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
Why does Water Security Matter?
Building Resilience:
Annual Flood Risk Estimated at Euro 56 million
2010 flood damages 0.2 percent of GDP
Need to protect environmental flows, water quality and watersheds
Protect habitats and landscapes for nature-based tourism
Functions for River Basin Management including drought and flood management and water quality protection underfunded
What are the risks associated with changing surface water availability for urban, agriculture and environmental water uses?
EIB Flood Risk Assessment (2016)

6. MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
Why does Water Security Matter?
Delivering Services:
Inequality in access to centralized drinking water between urban (90%) and rural (32%)
Rural areas with low access to flush toilets (13%) and public sewer (1%)
Firm productivity hindered by water outrages and reliability
Only 1.6% of all government spending for WSS sector; less than 10 euro/cap/yr.
Access to public drinking water services (Census, 2013, NBS)
Are there competing water demands among municipal and other uses? How to expand services given limited fiscal space and budgets?

7. MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
A phased approach is followed with stakeholder engagement of government and development partners
I: Mapping of water-related challenges for social, economic and environmental outcomes (Jan-Mar 2019)
II: Developing a National Water Balance Model to understand Water Availability and Demands (WEAP model) (Feb-May 2019)
III: Developing “Water Futures” and developing set of policy measures and investment scenarios; discuss priorities for future (May-Aug 2019)
IV: Implementation Analysis: how to finance and implement priority measures (after September 2019)

8. Building the WEAP model to investigate scenarios of water availability
MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
28 catchment scale – for data
and estimating water balance
10 basin scale – to analyze results
% of years with annual demand met
Building the WEAP model to investigate scenarios of water availability
Preliminary results show that water endowments are not the major constraints - except for some basins – Infrastructure and governance equally important for water security

9. Next Step: Development and Analysis for Water Future Scenarios
Urban Development Acceleration
Rural and Agri-business Development
Green and inclusive development
Urban development: increased urban migration, ICT sector and industrial development, stop to outward migration due to better job prospects in urban cities, protection of urban towns from floods, improving water and waste water services in towns and regional development centres
Rural and agri business: stop rural-urban migration; providing better services in rural areas, improve market competitiveness and access to export markets for agri products, higher value agriculture, irrigation expansion and reform, high intensity cropping and incentives for commercial farming, better market linkages; agri-tourism
Greena nd inclusive development: nature based solutions for flood protection, watershed protection, curbing pollution (wastewater), and financing equal access for rural areas, strengthening basin management and stakeholder engagement, development of nature-based tourism
Different water futures, requiring different levels and type of investments, policy measures, both within and outside of the water sector

10. MINISTERUL AGRICULTURII, DEZVOLTĂRII REGIONALE ŞI MEDIULUI
Thank You