The people’s advocate office (Ombudsman): Currently available water resources in Moldova are at critical level, a fact which affects the ability of the country’s development.

Drinking water quality: access to it continues to be one of the most important issues that the Republic of Moldova is facing, is mentioned in the National Ombudsman Institution study on human rights in the Republic of Moldova in 2014.

The problem of ensuring with quality drinking water was addressed by ombudsmen in terms of compliance with the principle of responsibility for future generations, declared in the Constitution of the country, and examined for the first time by the National Institute for promotion and protection of human rights.

The study warns that the National Center for Public Health specialists (NCPH) describe water quality in Moldova as ‘consistently low’. The worst situation is observed in rural areas where wells are the main source of water. According to NCPH, about 61% of water pipes related to underground water sources and about 84% water wells do not meet sanitary standards by chemical composition. Thus, the water contains an increased amount of fluoride, sulphate, hydrogen sulphide and other chemicals. The quality of drinking water from underground sources does not correspond to bacteriological indexes as well.

The water that is currently available in Moldova is approximately 500m3 per capita per year or less, which places Moldova in the category of countries where ‘water is insufficient’.

If the volume of water available is less than 1.000m3/capita/year, water scarcity can impede economic development and can harm health and living standards of the population. Currently, in Moldova, available water resources are at a critical level, a fact which affects the ability of the country’s development.

Water resources in the Republic of Moldova are sensitive to climate change both in terms of quantity as well as quality. According to the estimation, available surface water resources will decrease by 16-20% by 2020. This means that the safety of the water supply for all users will be jeopardized in 2020, when the intensity of water use will reach 100%.

National Ombudsman Institution is concerned about the changing demographic situation, environmental aspect, population issues related to increasing the capacity of human capital and social protection, health and education, employment and labor balance, etc., in terms of rapid growth of population’s age.