An ecological disaster unfolded in Căzăneşti village, Teleneşti distric, where the Răut river has nearly dried up and all the fish that used to reside there died. Authorities blame an entrepreneur who is building a Hydro-Electric Power Plant, from a neighbor village for this, claiming that in the process he stopped the water flow in the Răut river. 

Villagers from Căzăneşti have started noticing the lack of water and dead fish at its bank on Thursday. For this reason, the Public Welfare Center from Telenești advised the villagers against using the water from the river, even on animals and to not collect the dead fish, as it might result in grave consequences. The village's Mayor declared that he got in contact with the businessman from Brânzeni village regarding this issue, but was told that there was nothing to be done. 

"Water stopped flowing, the river turned to slime, there was no water at all, the villagers had to take fish out of slime. A guard from Brânzeni said that another guard turned off the faucet and forgot to turn it back on" the Mayor of Căzăneşti, Vasile Sîrbu stated.

On another hand, the entrepreneur that is renovating the Hydro-Electric Power Plant, believe that the cause for this dry up, are in fact, the villagers that took out too much from the river, to water their own plants.

"It is no secret that there have been installed, not sure how legally, multiple pumping pipes that I believe resulted in the river's dry up, especially in Căzăneşti" the companies owner, Ruslan Berlinschii said.

While the farmers claim that it is them who have suffered. Andrei Dermenji is the owner of over 50 hectare of vegetable plains that he cannot water for already two days.

"We suffer, everybody does, we have managed to build so many workplaces here and now it is unknown what the future holds for us" Andrei Dermenji stated.

Another farmer, Vasile Popa, also declares that he suffered losses. The man spent three million lei for the pumping pipes that now have to be closed down, in order to avoid its damage:

"We took out certain parts of the pipe and took it to the center of the river. We dug together with other people to be able to use at least one pumping pipe".

This disaster has worsened to the point where it attracted the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, as well as the Prosecutor's office, who intend to investigate this case. According to them, the renovation of the Hydro-Electric Power Plant is unauthorized. 

"We have already addressed to the Prosecutor's office through an official letter. The Hydro-Electric Power Plant was being renovated ignoring the law of the Republic of Moldova. They should have first consulted an ecologic expert and gain approval before starting" the Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Ecology, Vasile Bîtca said.

There are six Hydro-Electric Power Plant within the Republic of Moldova, only two of which are working.