The news from the Danube is not exactly good. After a slight increase in the water flow in recent days, forecasts indicate that the river will start to decrease again, while authorities are trying to bring enough water to Cernavodă to restart the nuclear power plant reactors.
Three dredging machines are currently working in the Cernavodă area to reshape the riverbed and redirect a larger amount of water towards the power plant.
However, the situation remains complicated. At Baziaș, where the Danube enters Romania, the water flow was at 1,600 cubic meters per second at the end of last week, compared to the long-term average of 3,900 m³/s for the month of August.
And the improvement is only temporary. According to the most recent forecast from the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management (INHGA), the water flow will start to decrease again, reaching approximately 1,450 m³/s in the coming days. The average for September is much higher: 3,800 m³/s.
Continuous dredging, but it's uncertain until when
The works in the Cernavodă area started in mid-August. One machine from the Lower Danube Water Administration Galați and two from the National Administration "Romanian Waters" are trying to modify the riverbed so that a larger amount of water reaches the power plant.
The AFDJ dredger is expected to remove approximately 100,000 tons of alluvium from the bottom of the Danube.
Authorities cannot yet say when the interventions will be completed. "Currently, dredging is ongoing at multiple points," said the Government spokesperson, Ioana Dogioiu, to News.ro. The moment when the operation will stop depends on the evolution of the Danube's water flow.
Separately, authorities are preparing to build a weir, a hydraulic structure designed to direct the water flow. However, the works have not started yet because the initially planned location has been changed, and other alternatives are being analyzed.
Extremely low levels and navigation problems
The exceptional situation this summer has brought the Danube to unprecedented levels in the history of measurements in Romania. On August 26, the flow at Baziaș reached approximately 1,300 m³/s, while the technical scenarios used by the responsible institutions considered a flow of 2,000 m³/s as a reference for very difficult situations.
Problems are also present in Bulgaria. Although the water level has increased by a few centimeters in some areas, navigation conditions remain difficult, and restrictions on the Bulgarian section of the Danube are being maintained.
The water crisis is already affecting the energy system. After the shutdown of the Cernavodă nuclear power plant due to the reduced flow of the Danube, authorities have extended until September 30 the measures that allow Transelectrica, in critical situations, to limit the consumption of major industrial consumers and to stop electricity exports.