Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

163Chapter 6: WATER MANAGEMENTRecommendation 6.1:(a) The Government of Albania, through the National Water Council and with the support of all its members,should urgently enforce the 1996 Law on Water Resources and the related regulations. The TechnicalSecretariat of the National Water Council should set in motion the following expeditiously:• Management by river basin should be put into practice as provided by the Law; river basin authoritiesshould be set up and should manage their water resources;• Water abstraction permits for groundwater and surface water should be properly registered; thisshould apply to all entities defined by the Law, i.e. hydropower plants, irrigation enterprises anddrinking-water enterprises (be they private or State-owned);• Proper implementation of sanitary protection perimeters is required around the water uptakes intendedfor drinking water;• Enforcement of the water abstraction charges; the enterprises abstracting water should report on thequantity they abstract; the related data should be registered, compiled and used as a management tool,in particular at the basin level;• The money collected from the water abstraction charges should help pay for the functioning of the riverbasin authorities and their projects.The 1996 Law on Water Resources is seen as outdated and is currently being revised. The new Law onIntegrated Management of Water Resources is expected to be approved in 2012. Progress made in specific areasis as follows:• Water resources management in Albania is organized within six administrative river basins (Drin–Bune, Mati, Ishem–Erzen, Shkumbin, Seman and Vjose). Based on this allocation, six river basincouncils (RBCs), each headed by the prefect of the region, act as the administrative body. Each isresponsible for the protection, development, fair distribution and operation of water resources within itsown basin boundaries. Beside them, six river basin agencies (RBAs), which act as executive andtechnical bodies of the RBCs, are responsible for on-site inspection regarding all activities in terms ofwater resource usage. However, they have little authority to enforce legal and regulatory proceduresand are still weak, understaffed and unstable, suffering especially from fragile financing.• In practice, registration of water abstraction permits for groundwater and surface water in general isvery weak and covers only a small part of the actual water abstraction. Even if there are waterabstraction permits, the extracted discharges are not subject to any control. Given the lack of adequatemonitoring systems for abstracted waters, the rapid changes in the agricultural, mining and industrialsectors and the continuous movements in population, the current situation in terms of water supply andwater demand in general is very difficult to assess. Especially in the agricultural sector, the nonexistenceof a working permission system, together with the lack of monitoring systems, endangers theaquifers and may lead to over-abstraction and resulting saltwater intrusion in coastal areas.• It was not possible to obtain any information concerning the implementation of sanitary protectionperimeters for water uptakes for centralised water supply systems. Some questions concerning relatedaspects were not answered. In general, however, the quality of groundwater suffers from pollutionthrough discharge of untreated wastewater from urban settlements, as well as from industries withobsolete technology and by the extensive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture.Concerning the water uptakes of decentralized (and therefore non-controlled) systems – which affect 85per cent of the population – sanitary protection does not, in principle, exist.• Monitoring and reporting of the quantity of abstracted water more or less exists, with some exceptions.However, the management of these data is insufficient. The data are neither organized in a workingdatabase nor used as a management tool.• It was not possible able to obtain any information on water abstraction charges. Some questionsconcerning related aspects were not answered.(b) The coordination role of Technical Secretariat of National Water Council should be strengthened and itshould implement its tasks and obligations deriving from the 1996 Law on Water Resources.This recommendation was implemented. As one important reform in the water sector, the former TechnicalSecretariat was reorganised into the GDWA in the summer of 2011 and provided with more staff and