Balgarianovinite.com Water levels along the Bulgarian section of the Danube remain historically low, restricting navigation in critical stretches, disrupting river shipping, ferry services and prompting special measures at Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, while riverside municipalities are monitoring possible effects on water supply and fishing, officials and institutions told BTA on Thursday.
According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, data from the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River as of July 30 show that the river remains at a low level, with stagnation or daily declines of up to 2 centimetres. The situation is particularly difficult near Vidin, Novo Selo, Lom and Ruse, where shallows, newly exposed land and the splitting of the river into several channels are further complicating navigation.
At Ruse, the river stood at 87 centimetres below the reference zero mark, down by 2 centimetres from Wednesday, while the flow rate was 1,773 cubic metres per second. Ivan Zhekov, Director of the River Supervision – Ruse Directorate at the Maritime Administration Executive Agency, described the situation as force majeure and unprecedented in recent decades. Shipping had “virtually ground to a halt”, he said, adding: “Personally, I have never heard of such low levels over the years. There has certainly not been a similar situation since 1990.”
Ivelin Zanev, Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River, attributed the prolonged low-water conditions along the entire river to drought and hot weather in Europe. Unlike in other dry years, water levels have remained below the minimum navigable level for an extended period, he said, warning that the season when the Danube normally reaches its lowest levels, between late August and September, is still to come. To maintain safe navigation, the Agency is carrying out maintenance dredging in critical sections, changing the fairway route where necessary and replacing navigational buoys. Zhekov said, however, that some skippers were not sufficiently prepared to navigate in such shallow waters and did not always check the latest information about fairway depths. There had also been attempts to pass through critical sections despite warnings and prohibitions, he added.
In Vidin Region, the water level was 8 centimetres below the reference zero mark at Vidin and 49 centimetres below it at Novo Selo. At Lom, the level remained unchanged at 8 centimetres, while an island about one kilometre long had formed in the middle of the river upstream from the town. The Danube was flowing through several separate channels in the area, creating additional difficulties for vessels.
The low water has already caused incidents. The Swiss-flagged passenger ship Viking Ullur ran aground near Vidin on Tuesday while carrying 186 passengers, all EU nationals, and 52 crew members. The passengers were subsequently taken off the vessel safely after another cruise ship was dispatched to assist.
Ferry transport has also been affected. The Oryahovo-Bechet ferry service has been suspended for three weeks because of the low water level.
Staff at the ferry complex said that temporary stoppages had occurred in previous years, sometimes lasting up to a month, but they had never recorded such a low river level. The Romanian operator on the Aydemir-Chiciu route has also suspended services, although the Bulgarian ferry continues to carry passengers and vehicles, with the situation being assessed daily.
The falling river is also affecting communities that depend on the Danube. Belene Mayor Milen Dulev said the decline was reducing the flow rate of wells supplying local water sources. Water supply currently remains normal in Belene and the municipality’s other settlements, but difficulties could arise if the river continues to fall, he said. Dulev added that the low water level was already having an adverse effect on fishing.
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant has established a special task force and is implementing a programme of measures to guarantee the safe and reliable operation of its facilities during a prolonged decline in the Danube. The plant said the levels recorded in recent days were the lowest in decades but stressed that both operating reactors, Units 5 and 6, continued to work according to the electricity generation schedule.
The plant explained that Danube water is used to condense steam in equipment in its conventional, non-nuclear section, rather than to cool the nuclear reactors. Water is supplied by the plant’s own shoreline pumping station, built in a deep bay and designed on the basis of a century of river-level studies, while an automated system continuously monitors the water level in front of the facility.
At the initiative of Energy Minister Iva Petrova, contact was established with Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic to explore whether the Djerdap Hydropower Complex, also known as Iron Gate, could provide assistance within its technical capabilities to keep the Danube upstream from Kozloduy above critical operating thresholds. The Bulgarian authorities and the plant are also maintaining continuous coordination with the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River and the Electricity System Security Fund. Historic Low Danube Levels Disrupt Shipping, Ferries, Prompt Kozloduy NPP Measures 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-07-30 20:27:59 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law