A water regime has been implemented in several settlements within the municipalities of Karnobat and Sungurlare in the Burgas region due to high summer temperatures that have caused local water sources to dry up. In some villages, the situation has worsened recently, leaving residents without water altogether. This report explores how the locals are coping with the drought.

Krastina, a resident of the Sungurlare village of Valchin, has been living without water for the second month in a row. "It was like that last year, and it was like that the year before, but like this year, it doesn't seem to have happened. Since June. In previous years, it stopped later," she said to BNT.

The village is mostly inhabited by elderly people who have to carry water in tubes filled from the village tap. Every drop of rainwater is also collected. "There are 11 tubs, 8 buckets. We are struggling and that's it. The washing machine burned down, I don't know if it was because of the water. I turned on the water heater yesterday because there was water and in the end, we took a bath again with the tubes, because there should be water during the day and here the tap is empty," Krastina explained.

"And we buy from the store. What should we do? It doesn't work otherwise. A dog's life, how to live? You can't go inside to take a shower. My water heater is turned off, my washing machine is turned off, everything is turned off," lamented Apostol Stoyanov.

Due to the droughts, the volume in local water sources has decreased by half. Consequently, the Municipality of Sungurlare issued an order on July 22 to introduce a water regime in five villages from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. "Somewhere the solution is that we have to build a water supply pipeline from the derivation of the Kamchia dam, and somewhere where there is no possibility, perhaps the solution is to drill wells. I assume that we will have a solution to these problems here as soon as possible, maybe within a year," said Dimitar Gavazov, mayor of Sungurlare Municipality.

In the neighboring Karnobat Municipality, ten villages have also adopted a water regime. In the central square of the village of Dragantsi, a water carrier is available for residents to collect water.

Rumiana, a resident, says the water problem has persisted for years. Her family is making an expensive investment to cope. "We would drill, we also have a well and that's how we manage. We also have hydrophores. Somewhere around 9-10 thousand leva are all the things," she explained.

The water supply company in Burgas claims the problem does not lie with them, as the villages are supplied from their own water sources. Meanwhile, the residents remain uncertain about when water will flow from their taps again.