MARKET RESEARCH OF THE

DECENTRALISED WATER TREATMENT

SYSTEMS IN MOLDOVA FOR AKVOREGIA

Company Profile
Company
Address
Telephone
Email
Website

Akvoregia
Plasdijk 12, 7475TD Hof van Twente
+31 (0)6 505 28 111
ad@akvoregia.eu
http://www.akvoregia.com/en/

Akvoregias core business is consultancy in water and membrane technology, bringing

new technology to the market and distribution of smart, decentralised water treatment
systems. The water treatment systems are designed on basis of Ultrafiltration
membranes, whereby viruses and bacteria are effectively removed and safe drink
water becomes available. The systems are suitable for a) point-of-use (POU) and b)
stand-alone water treatment.

In the first case it is applicate at the tap of the end-user, for example under the sink.
The water used is already pre-treated, but unreliable for any reason. There is not any
additional treatment necessary, like UV disinfection, chlorination, adding of minerals.
The stand-alone systems are suitable for customers who are not connected to any
water supply. The raw water is obtained from i.e. rainwater, surface water or well water
(groundwater).

Heavy metals are filtered out by an additional filtration step for the specific metals. The
systems are therefore suitable for areas with i.e. high boron and arsenic
concentrations. Increasing the taste (in particular chlorous remnants) is also among
the options.

The total cost of ownership of the systems is very low due the low investment, low
maintenance, easy installation and high yield. Products are besides households very
well suitable for schools/university, hospitality, public offices/spaces, health. And also
for the rural area/country side, in combination with rain water harvesting.

Country & Sector Profile

Country
Capital
Inhabitants
Location
Languages
GNI/capita
Religion
Doing business 2015 rank
Sectors with potential

Moldova
Chisinau
3.56 million
Eastern Europe, northeast of Romania
- Border countries (2): Romania 683 km, Ukraine 1,202 km
- Landlocked
Moldovan/Romanian, Russian
US$ 2,460
Orthodox (93.3%)
63 (82 in 2014)
Moldovas most strategic and promising industries for
foreign companies: Agribusiness, Alternative energy,
Sustainable construction and Textiles.

GENERAL
Are the Moldovans aware of drink water, are they thinking about it?
The awareness of the Moldovans can be divided by two zones. The majority of the
consumers from urban areas are aware of what they drink and they use, bottled water,
treatment systems or buy it from economic agents that sell treated water. On the
other hand people in rural areas are convinced that well water is of good quality and
do not present a health hazard even though some of them are willing to procure water
treatment equipment to ensure water quality. Moldovans culture say that the best
water is that one your getting from the well and the main point that state this idea is
that our grandparents used it ,our parents used it , and we also have to use it .

What is the biggest annoyance in the field of drinking water? In other words:
which improvement is desired in quality, pricing, availability, inconvenience?
The biggest annoyance in the field of drinking water is quality, availability and the
price.
Assessments suggest that the average Moldovan household currently already spends
5% of its monthly disposable income on WSS services, i.e. at the level of the accepted
threshold of affordability of 5%. The micro-affordability analysis of households grouped
by deciles in line with the NBS (National Bureau of Statistics) methodology suggests
that the poorest decile would have to spend 15% of its disposable income to afford
minimal WSS services standards: this is a far too high.

Also pollution which is as well a quality as it mean a lack of drinking water. Moldovas
water pollution has both point sources (namely the discharge of insufficiently treated
or untreated wastewater) and diffuse sources (in particular, rainwater drained from
settlements and runoff from agricultural land and dumps). Wastewater discharged from
residential or industrial areas is a major contributor to surface water pollution, as the
majority of the wastewater treatment plants have ceased operation. The quantity of
untreated or insufficiently treated wastewater has dramatically risen since 2000. In
rural areas, where most of the population draws their drinking water from polluted
groundwater sources and where only 17 percent of families use central supply sources,
the low quality of water has a direct impact on the populations health, generating
additional health-related expenditures for the state budget and economy.
The situation regarding the quality of the drinking water delivered to the consumers in
Republic of Moldova:
a)

44% of the population has no access to safe drinking water sources;

b)
Most of the groundwater used for the drinking water is inadequate because of
natural or anthropic pollution;
c)
A high percentage of samples were inadequate in terms of microbiological
parameters (10.82% in urban areas and 14.24% in rural areas);
d)
Water quality delivered to schools and institutions for children is inadequate
(54.38% of samples exceed the maximum allowable concentrations for sanitarychemical parameters and 20.21% of samples exceeding maximum permissible
concentrations by microbiological parameters).

What is the price for bottled water and pipe water?

The price for the bottled water in Moldova as in any country in the world depends on
the brand:
Local producers such us Rusnac-Srl (the biggest producer) set up a price from 6 lei
(0.28) up to 10 lei (0.47) for a 1.5 liters bottle and a price of 50-70 lei (2.34-3.27)
for a 19 liters bottle but with an initial purchase of the equipment that allow you to
use this type of bottle and that equipment has a price from 200 lei (9.35) up to 5000
lei (233.8).
Imported brands have a price from 10 lei (0.47) up to 30 lei (1.4) for a bottle of
0.75-2 liters.

Where do they get the drinking water from?

40% of Moldovans (majority rural area) use fountains or other natural water sources.
Other use water from economic agents that sell treated water from local resources:
Moldova's water resources are represented by surface water (rivers 3.621 and 4.261
natural and artificial lakes) and groundwater (wells 179 574 4842 artesian wells and
groundwater-fed). The main rivers are the Nistru (length 652 km) and Prut (695 km).
The largest reservoirs are Costesti-Stanca on the Prut river (59 km2) and Dubasari on
the Nistru River (67.5 km2). (Source: Annual Report of the State Ecological
Inspectorate)
The currently available water is about 500 m3 per inhabitant per year or even less,
putting Moldova in the category of the countries where "water is insufficient".

The internationally recommended thresholds defining the volume of 1700 m3 / capita /

year as the availability of safe fresh water sources.
If the volume of water available is less than 1,000 m3 / capita / year, water scarcity
can obstruct economic development and affect the health and standard of living of the
population.
The volume of surface water in Moldova is estimated at about 1.32 billion m3. Daily
renewable groundwater reserves are estimated at 3.478 million m3, of which 2.138
million m3 are approved by the State Commission for the reserves of useful minerals.
Of these about 2.121 million m3 were used by the population for drinking purposes.
In the following figure you can see the sources of drinking water used in the country
with 83% of the drinking water being used from the biggest river in the country (Nistru)
according to the accessible data, the other sources are Prut river-1.80%, other surface
sources-0.20% and sources from the deep-15%
Figure 1: Drinking water sources in Republic of Moldova

What is the average water consumption per capita?

Because we dont know how much water is used in rural area or in agriculture we
cannot calculate the average water consumption, but we have this table which state
how many cubic meters was delivered to each of the citizen of the certain city.

The volume of water distributed to the population, by districts and regions,

cubic meter per capita, 2014

F
Source: National Bureau of Statistics: see annex 1 for abbreviations

Is there regulation with regard to (decentral (domestic)) drinking water

(standards like WHO, anything besides, nationally, or...)? Are certificates needed
for production facilities?
Currently the area of water supply and sanitation is regulated by a number of laws and
regulations designed adopted and amended under the new terms and conditions,
which, however, need to be improved, respectively. The regulatory field for WSS
includes the following laws and Government Decrees:

Law 436 -XVI of 28 December 2006 on local public administration, which

establishes and regulates the organization and operation of local public authorities in
the administrative-territorial units;

Law 1402-XV of 24 October 2002 on public services of public utilities, which

establishes uniform legal basis for the creation and organization of public services

related to public utilities of the administrative-territorial units, including monitoring and

control of their operation;

Law 272-XIV on drinking water from 10 February 1999, which establishes

requirements for the safe operation of water supply and should be revised in
accordance with Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for consumption;

The Law 272 on water from 23 December 2011 (already harmonized with
several provisions of European directives), which aims at protecting water from
pollution and sets environmental quality standards;

Law 10 -XVI from February 3, 2009 on State Supervision of Public Health,

which aims to provide optimal conditions for the protection and promotion of public
health and quality of life;

Law 303 from 13 December 2013, the Public Service, which regulates water
supply and sewerage with a uniform legal basis related to the establishment,
organization, management, financing, operation, monitoring and control of public
services related to the supply of drinking water, industrial and wastewater/sewerage;

Government Decree 662 from 13 June 2007. " On approval of the water
supply and sanitation strategies Moldovan settlements " directed to the need to
improve the legal and institutional framework of the Republic of Moldova in line with
EU directives, so that people could get new services at the new European level of
quality; and

Government Decree 950 of 25 November 2013 "On approval of the Regulation

on requirements for the collection, treatment and discharge of wastewater into the
sewer system and / or into water bodies for urban and rural communities."

Government Decision no. 934 of 15 August 2007 "on the establishment of

automated information system" State Register of natural mineral water, potable and
bottled soft drinks, '"which regulates drinking water quality monitoring programs and
sets out requirements for reporting and drinking water quality.

Which part of the country is connected to (reliable) pipe network?

According to data from the ministry of health (MICS 4) around 86% of the population
(96% of urban consumers, 81% of rural consumers) have access to improved drinking
water sources with the ability to use at least 20 litres / day / person from an "improved
source located within a radius of 1km from the consumer's home."
According to the data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 44.4 % of the
population (71% of urban consumers, 24.9% of rural consumers) are connected to the
central pipe network , with 30.7% of them (85.9% of urban consumers and 28.6% of
rural consumers) being served by the economic agents from the country.

Competition

If we speak about the local producers so theres no active companies of a high profile
that produce decentralised water systems but we have companies that import
decentralised water systems like
TOPAZ-AKVAFOR.
1. Disinfection
2. Reverse osmose
3. Other
Fito Filters Moldova
1. Reverse osmose
Gheizer Russia
1. Reverse osmose
AQUAFILTERS USA
1. Reverse osmose
AQUAPHOR
1. Reverse osmose
2. Microfiltration
3. Other

Distribution Channels
.M. BONCOM S.R.L. (distribution)
Founded in 1996, for nearly two decades, enterprise BONCOM has paced along with
people who feel responsible and willing to participate in rescuing and protecting the
environment, and is has been taking all measures, necessary to improve the
infrastructure, related to water and sewage, as well as wastewater treatment.
All these facilities are internationally patented. BONCOM holds the exclusive license for
the production of plants in the Republic of Moldova, granting its customers the
opportunity to purchase a European product at a Moldovan price.
Boncom Srl is working with partners from Czech Republic, having 14 employees in
Moldova (2013).
address: str.Podgorenilor 41/1 MD-2059 mun.Chiinu
tel nr: +37322436077,+37322436099
website: http://www.boncom.md
mail: office@boncom.md

SRL LUMEA FILTRELOR (distribution)

The company was founded in January 1999. The company has experience in the field of
water treatment - more than 15 years. All experience and knowledge they use to
produce and import on the Moldovan market such products that would be of a high
quality and at affordable price.
One of the biggest company that sells decentralised water systems but mostly of a
small capacity.
The company has a good store network in Chisinau working with international

companies from all around the world.

Address: or. Chiinu, str. Grigore Vieru 16
Tel Nr: +373 22 24-44-14
Director mob: 069-277-811
Website: www.filtre.md

Market Segment
As a new product it has to prove the result to catch any of the segments of the
market.
1. Public spaces
The interest in this segment will be very low, as they sell bottled water and thats a
part of their income.
2. Hospitals, hotels, restaurants.
Interest in this segment depends on the profi le of the every unit, Private
will be interested while the public sector will not as they have a lack of
fi nancial resources.
3. Health
This sector is a diff erent one as the majority of them have diff erent
systems for water treatment. Theres a requirement of a good add to the
product in order to convince them to buy your product

4. Schools universities, kindergarten.

This sector will show a high interest as they switched from state
funding to self-fi nancing
which means the price for their services will increase but they have to
off er better conditions.

Expected growth in water and related infrastructure.

With financial support provided by the EBRD and EIB around 68 million public
provider SA APA CANAL is going to rehabilitate the water pipelines and of the
connections between them.
The project of modernizing the water and sanitation supply system expect for the first
stage, the rehabilitation of 190 km of aqueduct namely the most damaged sections.
The second stage, expect the modernization of the water treatment station in
Chisinau, rehabilitation of 15 km of sewage collectors, rehabilitation of drinking water
tanks from the water treatment station and construction and rehabilitation of 50
artesian wells that will be used in exceptional circumstances. Also it will be built the
first production factory of sodium hypochlorite in Moldova, substance that is used in
the process of water treatment.

Now the project to improve the water supply in the north is ongoing with a budget of
30 million. The project aims to maintain and expand the aqueduct water supply in the
north region. Also is in process the construction of the aqueduct Chisinau - Straseni Calarasi, with an estimated budget of about seven million, which provides a new
connection with about 20 villages located along the water supply network.
The EBRD's financial support would cover feasibility study costs on the construction of
the aqueduct Leova-Cimislia-Basarabeasca, extending water distribution in six districts
in the south and reviving water and sanitation operators by developing in the first
phase of a Performance Management.

National Investment.
The investment policy for the next year is yet to be created but in the following table it
represented investments made from 2010 to 2014.
Investment from National Ecological Fund (NEF) (2010-2014)

Financing by
fields
NEF (2010-2014)
(2010 2014)

2010
(lei)

Nr of
Projects
2010

2011
(lei)

Systems of water
supply and
sewage
treatment
systems
Arrangement ot
the wells and
springs

89575490

70

112754

Nr
of
proje
cts
2011
100

390

2012
(lei)

Nr of
proje
cts20
12

2013
(lei)

13280

83

298683150

Nr of
projects
2013
177

9833

2014
(lei)

376 644

Nr
of
proj
ects
2014
290

Total
20102014

Total nr

1 010

720

467

601

464

1184257

23

13969
04

30

70736

19

677564

15

308 206

4 274
297

Annexes
Annex 1:

COMPOSITION OF AREAS AND

ABBREVIATIONS

Annex 1: COMPOSITION OF AREAS AND ABBREVIATIONS

96

City

Abbreviatio Region
n

mun. Chiinu

Mun. Chiinu

Bli

BL

Briceni

BR

Dondueni

DN

Drochia

DR

Edine

ED

Fleti

FL

Floreti

FR

Glodeni

GL

Ocnia

OC

Rcani

RS

Sngerei

SN

Soroca

SR

oldneti

SL

Anenii Noi

AN

Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Nort
h
Centre

Clrai

CL

Centre

Criuleni

CR

Centre

Dubsari

DB

Centre

city

abbrevi
ation

Region

Hnceti

HN

Centre

Ialoveni

IL

Centre

Nisporeni

NS

Centre

Orhei

OR

Centre

Rezina

RZ

Centre

Streni

ST

Centre

Teleneti

TL

Centre

Ungheni

UN

Centre

Basarabeasca

BS

South

Cahul

CH

South

Cimilia

CM

South

Cantemir

CN

South

Cueni

CS

South

Leova

LV

South

tefan Vod

SV

South

Taraclia

TR

South

U.T.A. Gguzia

GE

South