site.btaBulgaria Can Sustain Itself from Its Mineral Waters Alone, National Chamber Chair Lukarska Says

Bulgaria can sustain itself from its mineral waters alone, the chair of the National Chamber for Mineral Water Management in Bulgaria, Tsvetelina Lukarska, said in an interview for BTA. Some of the springs in this country are a global rarity because of their unique mineral content of invaluable minerals and chemical elements, she added.

Bulgaria needs a common management or at least the creation of a working group or board for the management of its mineral water deposits, which will deal with the management policies and solve issues for the management and exploitation of Bulgaria's mineral waters, says Lukarska, who is also the initiator of the establishment of the Bulgarian-Saudi Business Chamber (BSBC). The chamber was established on June 29, 2023 in Sofia and will mediate for Bulgarian companies' entry on the Saudi market. According Lukarska, the Arab world is interested in Bulgarian mineral waters and Bulgaria needs a solid partner like Saudi Arabia.

In preparation of what Lukarska considers one of the best ways to market the product, a team is compiling a register of the mineral springs in Bulgaria, and has nearly completed work on an encyclopedia on the subject. The encyclopedia will be available in both hard copy and digital format and will reveal the richness of mineral waters in Bulgaria in which Saudi business is quite interested.

Lukarska is convinced that the number of mineral springs in the country exceeds the official number in the register of the Ministry of Environment and Water by far. Nature has given Bulgaria such springs in abundance and the people here do not use them rationally and simply let them mostly flow back to earth.

Besides for human consumption, hot mineral springs over 45 C are exceedingly appropriate for the so-called "green" RES – hydro-geothermal and electric power, Lukarska said. Given the unique content of invaluable natural minerals and chemical elements, the waters of Bulgaria are suitable for the production of many valuable ingredients for modern industry such as iodine, bromine, boron, zinc, magnesium and dozens of others. The mineral waters also serve as year-round greenhouse farms for fruit and vegetable production.

The national chamber team has also drafted a project stepping on the idea of providing vegetables for Sofia year-round with greenhouses around the capital fed by the local mineral springs. Lukarska says this will make imports from Turkiye and Greece superfluous. There are mineral springs everywhere around the capital, she argues, from Trebich, Mramor and Kostinbrod to Zheleznitsa and Boyana. At this stage, she sees the possibility of developing such a project in partnership with foreign business.