About Tsonevo Dam

Tsonevo Reservoir is located in northeastern Bulgaria in the foothills of the eastern Balkan Mountains, on the Luda Kamchiya River near the town of Dalgopol in Varna Province. Completed in 1971 with a storage capacity of 330.0 MCM, Tsonevo is the primary source of drinking water for the city of Varna — Bulgaria's largest Black Sea port and second largest city with approximately 400,000 residents. The reservoir's drinking water supply function is paramount: releases for irrigation and hydropower are subordinated to the requirement to maintain safe minimum storage levels for municipal supply. The Luda Kamchiya catchment covers a large area of the eastern Balkan Mountains and receives moderate precipitation supplemented by substantial spring snowmelt. The reservoir basin is surrounded by mixed oak and hornbeam forests typical of northeastern Bulgaria, and the shoreline habitats support a variety of waterfowl and wetland species. The water travels from Tsonevo through a system of pipelines and treatment facilities before reaching Varna and the coastal resorts of the Riviera. Water supply planners in Varna monitor Tsonevo levels closely during the summer tourist season, when the coastal population swells with visitors and demand rises significantly above the winter baseline, creating periodic pressure on the reservoir's storage reserves.