LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

of December 23, 2011 No. 272

About water

The Parliament adopts this organic law.

This law which is partially harmonized with directives of Council No. 91/271/EEC of May 21, 1991 about purification of city sewage and No. 91/676/EEC of December 12, 1991 about protection of waters against pollution with nitrates from agricultural sources, directives of the European Parliament and Council No. 2000/60/EU of October 23, 2000 about establishment of bases for activities of Community in the field of water policy, No. 2006/7/EU of February 15, 2006 about quality of water for bathing, No. 2007/60/EU of October 23, 2007 about assessment and risk management of floods, No. 2008/105/EU of December 16, 2008 about the environment quality standards in the field of water policy creates the necessary legal base of management, protection and use of waters.

I General provisions

Article 1. Law purpose

The purpose of this law is:

a) creation of the regulatory base for monitoring, assessment, managements, protection and effective use of surface and underground water on the basis of participation of the public in assessment, planning and decision making;

b) establishment of rights to use water and support of investments into areas of water resources;

c) establishment of mechanisms of protection of condition of waters, the prevention of any further deterioration in condition of waters, protection and recovery of the water circle, step-by-step and systematic reduction of protection of waters and water resources management in compliance with the European requirements;

d) prevention of further deterioration, preserving and improvement of condition of water ecosystems and – as for their water requirements – land ecosystems and wetlands, direct image depending on water ecosystems;

e) ensuring sufficient supply with surface and underground water of high quality for the purpose of the steady, balanced and fair water use;

f) establishment of the legal basis of international cooperation in the field of joint management of water resources and their protection;

g) assistance to steady water use and long-term protection of the available water resources;

h) ensuring the increased protection and improvement of the water circle, in particular, by taking measures to progressive reducing, by the termination or gradual elimination of dumpings, emissions and losses of priority dangerous substances;

i) ensuring gradual decrease in level of pollution of underground waters and prevention of their subsequent pollution;

j) contribution to mitigation of the consequences of floods and droughty periods.

Article 2. Basic concepts

For the purposes of this law the basic concepts used in it mean the following:

the water-bearing horizon – underground layer or layers of mountain or other geological breeds, enough porous and water-permeable to allow either considerable flow of underground waters, or fence of significant amount of underground waters;

agglomerations – zones where the population and/or economic activity are rather concentrated for possibility of sewage disposal of city and rural settlements and their direction on treatment facilities or to final point of dumping;

the floodplain – the part of the site of the natural valley of waterway flooded by water in case of flood;

river bed – land area, constantly or temporarily covered with water, providing free current of water between coast at the regular level, including the islands formed by the natural course of waters;

drinking water – as it is determined by the Law on quality of drinking water No. 182/2019;

internal waters – all still or fluid waters on the Earth's surface and all underground waters located above on current from the basic line serving for measurement of extent of territorial waters;

surface water – still and fluid waters on the Earth's surface;

underground waters – the waters which are under the Earth's surface in zone of saturation and in direct contact with the earth or the soil;

sewage – the water which is formed as a result of household, social and economic activity, containing the pollutants or rainfall worsening it initial physical, chemical and bacteriological properties;

nature protection permission to special water use – the document issued by the Agency of the environment which owner has the right of special water use under certain conditions according to provisions of this law;

the hydrographic pool – the territory of the earth limited to watershed with which all superficial drain through the sequence of streams, the rivers and reservoirs flows in the sea in one mouth, estuary firth or the delta;

reservoir – the artificial temporary water subject to pumping filling or filling at the expense of drain intended for irrigation and/or other purposes, except for reproduction and cultivation of fish;

water balance – set of the calculations about water resources management executed by preparation of the schemes and projects determining ratio between the available water resources (the available amounts of surface and underground water for the guaranteed long-term use) and the calculated water use in case of the predicted level of development of economy;

belt of meanders – the territory between the lines connecting extreme external points of bends of the river in places of intensive meandrirovaniye;

The state water inventory – the state information system in which collection, processing and data storage about water resources, water resources management, hydraulic engineering constructions, the protected zones, water balance, lands of water fund is performed;

quality requirements of the environment for water – concentration of separate pollutant or group of pollutants in water, ground deposit or biota which shall not be exceeded for the purpose of ensuring protection of human health and the environment;

committee of the basin district – advisory coordinating body of the basin district;

hydraulic engineering constructions – constructions, held for use water resources in the different purposes, their protection and prevention of destructive impacts of waters, including containing pollutants;

artificial water object – the superficial water object created as a result of activities of the person;

superficial water object – separate considerable element of surface water, such as lake, water storage basin, pond, waterway – the river or the canal, the site of waterway – the river or the channel;

strongly changed water object – superficial water object which nature is fundamentally changed as a result of the physical changes caused by activities of the person;

underground water object – the isolated amount of underground waters in the water-bearing horizon or the water-bearing horizons;

single and indivisible water object – surface water, including the earth of water fund and hydraulic engineering constructions, and also underground waters with the limiting their water-bearing horizon and waterproof breed;

ecological costs – the material cost of the damage caused to the environment by unauthorized use of water;

resource costs – the amount of lost profits which could be received if water resources and their capability to self-recovery were not reduced by those who use them now;

watershed – the line of the Section of drain of atmospheric precipitation on two opposite directed slopes; the ridge or the site of the sublime area dividing two drainage basins;

waterway – the mass of water (link of hydrographic network) proceeding under natural conditions in the lowered linear forms of relief. The waterway can be permanent, temporary or ephemeral;

ephemeral waterway – waterway where water flow is observed only during loss of atmospheric precipitation and/or thawing of snow and short time after the termination of the corresponding phenomenon;

temporary waterway – waterway where water flow is not observed more than two months within one year;

permanent waterway – waterway where water flow is observed more than 10 months within one year;

sanitary output – the minimum output on the site of waterway, necessary for providing conditions of life activity of the existing water ecosystems;

the basin district – the square of the territory of the Republic of Moldova consisting of one or more adjoining hydrographic pools together with the underground waters relating to them determined as the main unit of management of hydrographic pools;

depletion of waters – decrease in amount of water is lower than the admissible minimum providing safe ecological condition of water object;

euthrophication – water pollution by nitrogenous compounds that leads to the rapid growth of seaweed and water plants of the highest types breaking balance of the organisms which are present at water and to deterioration in the corresponding quality of water;

coastal water preserving strips – the earth of the established sizes from structure of the water protection zone, intended for protection of water resources by creation of forest or grass strips;

bulk pond for fish farming – the artificial water object created by way of odambirovaniye of the land area adjoining waterway and intended for reproduction and cultivation of fish;

pond – the artificial water object formed by damming or withdrawal of waterway, intended for cultivation of fish, irrigation etc., amount in case of normal retaining level, to one million cubic meters;

flood – temporary flooding of part of lands which in regular condition are not covered with water, caused by excessive inflow of flood waters or loss of plentiful rainfall;

instruction – accumulating in line with the river or the bed of reservoir of organic and inorganic particles leading to formation of layer of silt and reduction of amount of water;

the lake – the internal superficial water object with still waters which does not have communication with the World Ocean;

water storage basin – the artificial water object constituting water-supply with its possible use in the different purposes, amount in case of normal retaining level, more than one million cubic meters;

management within the hydrographic pool – management system water resources within the hydrographic pool;

additional measures – the measures developed by committee of the basin district, conceived and performed in addition to the main measures for the purpose of achievement of nature protection tasks concerning the water resources established according to Article 38;

hydromorphological change – change of physical characteristics of form, borders and content of water object;

bank protection forest strip – the forest strip placed along the coast of water object, intended for its protection against erosion and landslides;

pollution of waters – the direct or mediated introduction as a result of activities of the person of substances or it is warm in air, water or the soil which can be hazardous to health of people or for quality of water or land ecosystems, direct image depending on water ecosystems, leads to spoil of material property or disturbs or does harm to household conveniences and other legal uses of the environment;

pollutant – any substance which can act as the contaminating factor;

good ecological potential – condition of strongly changed water object or artificial water object;

stream – the permanent or temporary internal waterway feeding on atmospheric precipitation and underground waters, having length less than 10 km and surface of reservoir less than 50 sq.km;

water intake – the place of intake of water from underground sources or the place of fence of surface water, including all constructions and installations; the water intake may contain one or several water intaking installations, water wells, springs, wells;

water resources – the surface, underground water and atmospheric precipitation which are dropping out in the territory of the Republic of Moldova;

risk of flood – set of probability of flood and potential adverse effects for human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity connected with floods;

hydrographic network – set of water currents (permanent, temporary and ephemeral) and lakes (natural and artificial) in certain territory;

the river – the permanent or temporary internal waterway feeding on atmospheric precipitation and underground waters, proceeding in the bed created by him, having length more than 10 km with reservoir surface more than 50 sq.km;

drought – temporary deficit of surface and underground water as a result of climatic changes;

water well – the vertical cylindrical mine adit drilled in crust for the purpose of hydrogeological researches, monitoring and production of underground waters;

подбассейн – the area of the earth within the basin district with which all superficial drain through network of streams, the rivers and reservoirs flows to certain point of waterway in this basin district;

dangerous substances – substances or the groups of substances which are toxic, steady and inclined to bio-accumulation and also other substances or groups of substances constituting danger;

the earth of water fund – the lands covered with water – beds of water currents, bed of lakes, ponds, water storage basins, swamps, the earth on which hydraulic engineering and other water management constructions, lands allocated under branch strips on coast of the rivers, reservoirs, the main channels and collectors and also the lands used for construction and operation of the installations providing requirements satisfaction in drinking, technical, medicinal water and other social needs are located;

maximum permissible dumping – the weight expressed depending on certain specific parameters, concentration and/or the level of dumping which cannot be exceeded during determined or certain periods;

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