The year 2026 began with water over the threshold for part of Albania. Just a few days after the turn of the year, thousands of families in areas such as Shkodra, Lezha, Malësia e Madhe, Durrës, Vlora and Gjirokastra faced a now familiar scenario: massive flooding of homes, agricultural lands and road and hydrotechnical infrastructure. A crisis that did not come without warning.
The warnings for heavy rainfall were issued days in advance. The “increased caution” notices were repeated, and then the classic emergency scenario was set in motion: meetings of the Civil Emergency Headquarters, ministers and deputies on the ground, periodic statements and reports on the situation. A ritual that is repeated almost identically every time nature puts us to the test. Then comes the next phase, the quieter one: a new event replaces the old one in the news cycle, while on the ground there remain the warned chronicles of the floods and the affected families who are forced to rebuild their lives, once again from scratch.
The January floods were atypical, both for the areas affected and for the extent of the damage. Each case has its own specifics: sometimes we are dealing with the “wrath” of nature, sometimes with human and institutional negligence, and often with a dangerous combination of both. In a balance sheet like this, some questions become inevitable: Have the legal requirements for emptying agricultural dams, which should have been carried out in October, been respected?
Have the embankments been raised and maintained in line with the increasing frequency of extreme phenomena year after year?
How functional are the primary and secondary drainage channels, even the most peripheral ones? And, above all, what role has our irresponsibility as a society played, with unauthorized construction, and how many times has this been "beneficial"?
This time, energy dams were back at the center of the debate. KESH announced controlled discharges in the Drini cascade, while Statkraft announced discharges in the Banja dam.
But the key question remains: how much real impact did these discharges have on the total flood balance?
In a country where flooding is turning from an “emergency” to the norm, the debate can no longer stop at “apocalyptic” rainfall. It must shift to accountability, planning, prevention, and the economic cost of inaction.
Expert: Energy dams have curbed the real impact that natural flow would have
Arjan Jovani, President of the ICOLD European Club (EURCOLD), as former Chairman of the National Committee of Large Dams in the country, a hydrotechnical engineer by profession, states that the role that dams have in the consequences of floods should be viewed positively. According to him, at least energy dams should not be seen as "enemies" but as partners that mitigate in many cases the real effect of nature's wrath.
He cites as an example the Vjosa, which has a natural flow and its impact is felt immediately, while in the Drint Cascade, despite the natural flows being 3800 m3 second the discharges were only 1200 m3 water per second. "My answer is NO. In the situation of recent days, discharges from hydroelectric dams were not the reason for these floods.
Based on the recorded data, it turns out that the water flows in the Drin River cascade reached 3800 m³/sec, while the amount discharged from the Vau i Dejës HPP was no greater than 1200 m³/sec. It should be noted that during this period, the main problem for the Fierza reservoir was the water inflows that came from the Drini i Bardhë, which is an unregulated river and on which no dam has been built.
"There are no dams on the Drini i Bardhë, which comes from Kosovo, and the heavy rainfall that falls in that area creates large flows that are discharged directly, within 24 hours, into the Fierzë HPP reservoir," underlines Mr. Jovani. According to him, the coordinated management of flows in Fierza and Komani significantly minimized flooding in the lower part of the Drin River in the Nënshkodra area.
Regarding the Drini cascade, he underlines that perhaps the time has come for the basic regulation of 1988, on which it operates, to be reviewed as conditions have changed. First, according to him, the accuracy of the data has changed as they are now taken in real time and accurately thanks to technology and measurements; secondly, we have a real assessment of the basins, which with the measurement of old maps resulted larger, but now from sediments and accurate measurements with new maps have refreshed volumes.
Why agricultural dams and the WB project are a problem
While energy dams are systematically monitored, have ongoing maintenance, and accurate data, those that remain a real risk in the country are agricultural dams.
The National Committee for Large Dams recently conducted a study that found that 50 dams in the country have high risk and another 100 have moderate risk.
In total, 150 dams pose a risk to people living in urban areas below these dams. In these dams and the urban areas below them, it is necessary to install alarm systems to provide real-time notification of water levels rising above the permitted level and to notify in the event of damage or possible dam failure.
In this regard, we emphasize that the problem of the lack of these systems exists in irrigation dams and drinking water supply dams, while dams used for hydropower production are relatively monitored.
"Irrigation dams that are used and are under the administration of local governments have more problems in terms of their maintenance and monitoring, due to the lack of technical, human and financial capacities," says Mr. Jovani. Currently, Albania is being supported by the World Bank with a fund of 1.6 million dollars regarding the optimization of the safety of dams and water systems in the context of climate change. In the explanation of the project earlier it was estimated that the goal is to detect and address the climate risk for water management and agriculture and dilapidated water infrastructure with a focus on increasing the water storage capacity of reservoirs for adaptation to a changing climate.
Specifically, the project aims to prepare the groundwork for increasing the security and availability of dam water to irrigate an area of 180 thousand hectares of agricultural land located mainly in the western-coastal part of Albania from Shkodra to Vlora, enabling increased yields and incomes for 200 thousand farms.
Rehabilitation, modernization of dams and improvement of their safety will need to include structural and non-structural measures, hydrological assessment, structural strengthening of dams and improvement of water storage in reservoirs, sediment management, modernization of control and monitoring, as well as other measures that would improve the safety and operation of dams.
From the Water Cadastre to the institutional architecture, the measures that need to be taken
Albania experienced its most devastating flood in 1962-1963 when entire areas between several rivers were covered by water. Despite the rains and intensity over the years, Albania has not faced a situation like that again until now. But for experts, it was that moment that completely changed the state's approach and the measures that needed to be taken. First, the relevant technical design institutions were established.
The creation and establishment of the Design Institute for Hydropower Works and the Design Institute for Drainage and Reclamation Works began.
"These were supported by the institutes of Geology, Geodesy, Seismics, Hydrometeorology and the Hydraulic Research Laboratory. This specialized work and in teams organized according to the best experiences of the time led to the systematization of problematic areas for flooding, such as the Durrës and Karavasta swamp areas, the Nënshkodra area, as well as many other swampy areas", says Mr. Jovani. According to him, based on this experience, but also on that of European countries, one of the main long-term measures that should be taken is the strengthening of technical institutions and their reorganization, by regulating and clearly defining the tasks of each, as well as the ways of cooperation between them.
"Minimizing the consequences we see today can only be achieved by having a coordinated institutional organization with clear tasks. Ministries can make policies, while the chain of technical institutions must conduct studies, draft long-term programs and concrete projects in this field," he assesses. Another element is the increase in qualified human capacities, which must be encouraged both in universities and through training. "Another problem that has not yet been solved is the lack of a Water Cadastre. Completing this cadastre with a database on water surfaces and the volume of water in 650 reservoirs is an emergency that must begin as soon as possible.
Completing this water cadastre is very important for the real management of these created water reserves, as well as for the implementation of water resource management plans, which are very important in the agriculture, energy, urbanization and flood protection sectors.
Investment in this sector, I think, should start with the "brain", that is, with expertise, professional identification of problems and the current situation through contemporary monitoring, and then with physical investments.
The priority is the reorganization of existing institutions related to this field. Then, based on appropriate studies and consultations, investments should be planned.
"Accurate information is the basis for fair and efficient investments" - says Mr. Jovani./Monitor
