2011-01-19
Lack of management in water management
“Government institutions and municipalities did not complete a lot of planned works in the area of water management. About one third of citizens still do not have access to safe drinking water from centralized water suppliers,“ says Auditor General Giedrė Švedienė summing up a public audit conducted in the area of regulation and organization of water management and accessibility of safe services to consumers. According to the Auditor General, key issues identified in the Situational Analysis of Aquaculture commissioned by the Ministry of Environment in 2003 still remain unsolved.
Efficient aquaculture management system has still not been developed: water provision companies are not consolidated, water provision is not licensed, none of municipalities has chosen public water supplier, third part of municipalities have still not drafted infrastructure development plans for provision of drinking water and waste water management, although they had to be drafted over two years ago. The NAOL stated that municipalities often do not follow the Law on
Drinking Water Supply and Waste Water Management; however, representatives of the Government in Counties do not take appropriate measures to enforce its implementation, while the Ministry of Environment limits its remit only to co-ordination of activities of municipalities.
The NAOL recommended to the Government to draft legislation stipulating the mandatory licensing of companies providing water supply and waste water management services, as well as reconciliation of prices of their services with the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy. The Commission was recommended to establish indicators for setting and measuring costs based on the same principles necessary for water management.