In 2018, 5 425 million cubic meters of fresh water are abstracted in the country, which is 4.1% less than in 2017. Most notable is the reduction of surface water abstracted (4.3%), which accounts for about 90% of freshwater abstracted. The reported decline is mainly from the reduction in abstracted water for cooling processes in the energy sector and for the sector Agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Decrease was also reported in the abstracted water from underground sources - by 2.6% compared to 2017, mainly for the purposes of public water supply (PWS), NSI said in a press release.

Despite the decrease in absolute volume, the structure of water abstraction on national level is relatively stable. In 2018, the most significant share of water is in the industry sector - 70.7% of freshwater, followed by the Public water supply (15.5%) and Agriculture, forestry and fisheries (13.3%). The abstracted water for the Services sector accounts for about 0.4% of the total fresh water recovered.

Additionally in 2018 a total amount of 26. billion m3 water was used for hydroenergy production which is higher compared to 2017 by 45.2%

Part of abstracted water is delivered to the end users and the rest is water losses (leakages, evaporation, unauthorized consumption, measurement errors etc.).