site.btaWastewater Pipeline at Lake Varna Breaks Down Again

The wastewater pipeline under Lake Varna has broken again, the press centre of Varna Municipality said on Monday. 

The report was submitted on Sunday by the operator of the Asparuhovo sewage pumping station. Currently, teams from Hidroremont IG OOD have located the site of the failure and are working to eliminate the leak. They have established that a connection between two parts of the temporary pipeline has been displaced, which most likely was caused by turbulence from the passage of a large deep-draft ship.

Varna Municipality commented that since the weather is good, diving teams will also be able to work at the site and that the company has declared its readiness to stop the leakage of wastewater as soon as possible. The Municipality pointed out that the construction of the pressure wastewater pipeline at the bottom of Lake Varna is financed by the State under an agreement from April 2024, stressing that there is a serious delay in payments, which prevents the company from working quickly. Until the project is completed, it is relying on the temporary pipeline.

The wastewater pipeline was installed in 2011. It broke down in 2019, causing serious pollution in Lake Varna. In April 2024, the state provided BGN 24 million for its repair, after which the project contractor confirmed that the entire repair would be completed by early 2025. However, the pipe broke down in November 2024, with the situation seeming to repeat itself in 2025.