Water retention and infrastructure among priorities in fight against drought

Retaining water in the landscape, addressing water supply needs, connecting water management systems and investing in wastewater treatment plants are among the stated priorities of the National Coalition for Combating Drought which met to assess the situation on Monday.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said long-term investments in drought prevention and securing drinking water supplies would amount to hundreds of billions of crowns. He added that legislation was also needed to speed up investment.

Experts have mapped 1,000 municipalities most at risk from drought and the Environment Ministry has allocated 500 million crowns from the State Environmental Fund to support them.