Some Data on the Water Economy and the Utilization of Water Resources in Bulgaria, including Irrigation

Some data on the water economy and the utilization of water resources in Bulgaria including irrigation have been given in this paper. Bulgaria which is situated in the southernmost part of the temperate zone, is under the influence of the Atlantic and Mediterranean cyclones. The seasonal variations of rainfall are considerable and also the rainfall is unevenly distributed. An incessant growth of water consumption after World War II, made it imperative to improve and increase the national watergauging network constantly. The processing of gauging data is carried out in accordance with up-to-date methods which include electronic computers. For optimum utilization of water resources, the sub-System of the cybernetics is being built. In order to utilise water resources most rationally. the country has been divided into water economy regions. In estimating water needs in these regions, drinking water supply enjoys a priority followed by industrial, irrigation and power-generation according to economic advantage, In Irrigation the tendency is to replace the existing gravity System, which consumes much manual labour, with Sprinkler Irrigation system and also to transform the existing system on the basis of automation and mechanization. In conclusion it is stated that during the last 2-1/2 decades irrigation radically transformed Bulgarian agriculture and for average yield of wheat, maize and sunflower Bulgaria ranks among the first of the high-yielding countries in the world.