Water gets dearer in four steps up to 2029, and Apele Române installs its own meters

Raw water drawn from rivers and from underground sources gets dearer every year until 2029, and Apele Române gains the right to turn up with its own meters at any user’s gate. Law no. 155/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 592 of 20 July 2026, amends three acts in the water sector and replaces in full the four annexes that carry the tariffs. It is the second major intervention in environmental infrastructure this summer, after the update of the National Air Pollution Control Programme.

The acts affected are Water Law no. 107/1996, Law no. 122/2020 which amended it, and Government Emergency Ordinance no. 107/2002 setting up the National Water Administration „Apele Române”.

The logic of the law is straightforward: more money, more accurate collection and an obligation to put a fixed share of it back into infrastructure. Each of the three elements comes with a deadline written into the text.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is the timetable of increases, set out in Article IV. From the entry into force of the law, the contribution per MWh owed by producers of electricity in hydropower plants that can prove it is technically impossible to fit measuring devices is indexed by 7.32%, the figure corresponding to the consumer price index for 2025. Percentage increases then follow, applied to the contributions, tariffs and penalties for each category of user: 2.00% from 1 January 2027, 4.00% from 1 January 2028 and 3.70% from 1 January 2029.

The exception is the same at all three steps: the contribution for irrigation, both for raw surface water and for groundwater, does not go up. In January of each year the operator notifies beneficiaries of the new level of the contribution, resulting from the update with the consumer price index, to which the staged increase is added.

The second effect is metering. The new paragraph (1¹) inserted into Article III of Law no. 122/2020 gives the National Water Administration „Apele Române” the right to set up a metering system of its own and an integrated IT system for monitoring the volumes of water used or discharged. Users are obliged to allow the fitting of equipment for measuring and for monitoring quantity and quality, irrespective of the legal status of ownership of the works and of the land attached to them.

The provision does not apply to everyone, but to the economic operators listed in Annex no. 5 to Government Emergency Ordinance no. 107/2002 and to precise categories: raw surface water for economic operators, groundwater for municipal utility operators, public institutions, places of worship and others using water for drinking purposes, and groundwater for industrial economic operators.

The third effect concerns the cases where a meter cannot be fitted. Indirect metering methods apply, by relating the maximum authorised flow to the actual time of use. Producers of hydroelectric energy by turbining water who prove that fitting is technically impossible pay the contribution for each MWh produced. The instructions on the indirect methods are approved by order of the head of the central public authority for water management, within 6 months of the entry into force of the law.

The fourth effect is the obligation to invest. Two paragraphs are added to Article 85⁴ of the Water Law: in budget years 2027 to 2031, the funding of investment projects is to be at least 12% of total spending from own resources, measured against the income and expenditure budget as initially approved, and from budget year 2032 the share rises to at least 18%.

The fifth effect concerns the sources of the fund. It includes shares of the revenue collected by Apele Române from turning public property assets to account and a share of 50% of the sums charged for the letting of state-owned public immovable property administered by the institution. The annual level of the fund is approved by the Governing Board, taking into account the rehabilitation needs of dykes and dams.

Water management works reach as far as expropriation: at Lacul Roșu, the State takes 3,214 square metres of forest, and the 48,357.96 lei go through an account opened in the name of Apele Române.

The sixth effect is the tariffs themselves. Annexes nos. 4 to 7 to Government Emergency Ordinance no. 107/2002 are replaced in full. The new amounts include 105.04 lei per thousand cubic metres for economic operators taking surface water, 120.84 lei per thousand cubic metres for groundwater used by industrial economic operators, 6.29 lei per thousand cubic metres for irrigation from surface water and 39.71 lei per MWh produced for hydropower plants without measuring devices.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The first change is that the increases are now predictable. Until now, contributions were updated once a year with the consumer price index. Now a timetable of increases is written into the law on top of the indexation, with fixed percentages for four years.

The second change is the operator’s right of access to the user’s installations. The wording „irrespective of the legal status of ownership of the works used and of the land attached to them” puts an end to a dispute that has been common until now, over who owns the pipe or the land on which the meter would be fitted.

The third change concerns hydropower. Producers who cannot fit measuring devices move from a contribution calculated on the volume of water to one calculated on the energy produced, at 39.71 lei per MWh, indexed straight away by 7.32%. That is a change in the basis of calculation, not merely in the level.

The fourth change is the minimum investment share. The Water Law contained no threshold at all. Introducing one, with a scheduled rise from 2032, answers a long-standing criticism: revenue from contributions largely covered running costs, while dykes and dams went unrepaired.

The fifth change is one of budget procedure. The list of investment projects funded from the budget of Apele Române is endorsed by the Governing Board, on a proposal from the head of the institution, and approved by the principal authorising officer.

What does not change is the treatment of irrigation. Also on the subject of the water bill, another Constitutional Court ruling confirms the monthly aid town halls must grant for water and sewerage. The contribution for irrigation stays outside the three increases of 2027, 2028 and 2029, whether the water comes from the surface or from underground.

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