Two water utility professionals from Bulgaria are visiting Ames this week to learn about its top-notch water systems, officials said.

Christina Mateva, staff member of Eco Aqua Tech, Christo Bratchkov, director general of the Sofia Water and Wastewater Utility, and Vladimir Bereanu, translator and TV news announcer, arrived Monday.

Harris Seidel, a retired department head from the Ames Water and Pollution Control Plant and current representative of Water for People (WFP), will escort the visitors around town in an effort to show them how our water systems work and to give them a look at typical Ames life.

“The most important thing that we can do for [the visitors] is to demonstrate what we do in water metering so that they can help themselves,” Seidel said.

The group has been and will be touring the Ames water treatment plant, the water and pollution control plant, the ISU environmental engineering research facilities and several non-technical areas in Ames.

“This program is part of a long-term effort for us to help [Bulgaria] in several technical areas,” Seidel said. “They have some catching up to do because of the 40 years of communist government they were under.”

In an effort to acquaint the Bulgarians with Ames, the group was also taken to the Abbie Sawyer Elementary School, North Grand Mall, and a farm north of Ames to give them a taste of what life in Iowa is like.

The visit was arranged by WFP, an international assistance program that promotes safe water. The program aims to provide technical support and training for water utility professionals and government officials in Eastern Europe.

Seidel said that while this visit is the first of its kind for Ames, it is too early to tell if the program will continue.

A grant from AID/EPA made the trip possible, he said.

“This is a form of foreign aid travel—the lowest budget form of foreign aid travel,” Seidel said. “All the people who are giving us tours this week are volunteering their time. In fact, the only cost is travel and other such expenses.”

Seidel said he has been to Bulgaria four times through the exchange program and has learned a great deal from the experiences.