Scope of activity

The agency functions in accordance with domestic and international law to assist, explore and maintain navigation conditions of inland waterways in the Republic of Bulgaria.

The agency carries out activities such as:

• ensuring navigation conditions in the Bulgarian-Romanian section of the Danube river from km 374,100 to km 610,000;
• exploration and study of the hydromorphological and hydrological regimes of the Danube in the Bulgarian section, as follows: water level fluctuations; water temperature; speed and direction of the current; river discharge; ice regime; bank and island erosion; formation of alluvial sands and islands;
• collection and dissemination of information on navigation conditions and the hydrometeorological regime of the river;
• study of the hydromorphological and hydrological regime within range of the hydro technical facilities in the Bulgarian-Romanian section of Danube and organize unhindered navigation in the area of the Rousse-Giurgiu bridge;
• providing information in the area river survey;
• inform relevant bodies, ministries and departments, on taking pre-emptive measures in the event of possible floods, bank erosion, ice phenomena, occurrence of oil spills, etc.;
• study and co-ordinate the projects for the development of hydro-technical and infrastructural facilities undertaken along the river;
• co-ordinate the deployment of technical facilities in the river-bed in relation to navigation, erosion of banks and islands;
• carry out the hydrometeorological observations in the Bulgarian section through the stations at Novo Selo, Lom, Oryahovo, Thievish, Rousse and Sinistral, and issue storm warnings to ensure navigation;
• implements projects for the maintenance and improvement of navigation conditions along the Danube;
• participate in localizing and eliminating contaminations resultant from navigation activities in the common Bulgarian-Romanian section of the river;
• issue short-term forecasts for water levels and ice phenomena along the river along the common Bulgarian-Romanian section;
• issue schemes for the extraction of sediments and disposal of the same in the bed of the Danube river;
• provide information necessary for the needs of the Bulgarian river information system;
• monitors water quantity in the Danube river.