Drought

The freeway reminding of this mess we're in.

©Tanya Decheva, Studena, 2019

My generation is witnessing the effects of climate change. I remember the long winters with lots of snow, building snow forts, snowball fights, our sleigh races and snow angels. But the weather's changing and that, combined with inadequate management from the government, brings us to periods of drought and forest fires. Last year Studena, a water source for a big town and it's surrounding villages, was almost empty. The dam is build on Struma river. I've been going there for years to take photos so when my friends suggested we go and see how the water reservoir looked I was really excited. 

So we took a trip in early October. Woke up early, packed the cameras, lenses, tripods and got going. As it happens every time we got lost on the way there, missing the highway exit. That little detour didn't stop us. We got there after a while, parked the car and went on walking on the dirt road, that would lead us to the water. The security guard stopped us: "Are you journalist?", he asked a bit worried. As we assured him we're not there for a reportage, he let us go. And so we got to the once filled with water dam, I stood breathless. It was empty. And not only it was empty, the ground was so dry it was covered in deep cracks. A small canyon was formed by a river, making its way to the dam wall.

©Tanya Decheva, Studena, 2019

It was so cold my fingers were freezing but that didn't stop me from running around taking photos. I was so overwhelmed. The sun slowly made it's way trough the light fog. The ground was coated with frost that the sunlight was melting. Our elongated shadows crawled on the  dried bed of the dam. 

©Tanya Decheva, Studena, 2019

We were calming from the initial excitement and then the security guard came up to us. He talked about the misdeeds of the local government. The dam was quickly losing water since the beginning of summer but since there would be elections in a few months no one talked about that. Now the town had a water regime and since there was no rainfall that could go on for a long time. The man was really worried and we all understood his concerns. Now a year later there's enough water in the dam. But currently a similar problem is rising in the eastern parts of the country and the lack of rain is not the only reason. This mess we're in is a lot greater than we think - climate change is not something you believe in or not, it's happening and we should be doing something, anything you can.

©Tanya Decheva, Studena, 2019