On Sunday, 21 June, the municipality of Ungheni officially opens its 2026 summer season. The municipal beaches on the Prut River and Lake Delia are once again welcoming visitors, and lifeguards will be on the banks all summer — a condition that few swimming spots in Moldova meet.
The decision belongs to Mayor Vitalie Vrabie, who signed Order No. 152-02/1-7 of 5 June 2026, “on the opening of the 2026 summer season in the municipality of Ungheni”. The document, registered in the State Register of Local Acts, sets the opening date — 21 June — and assigns responsibilities for the three summer months.
What the order provides
Most of the work falls to the Ungheni Maintenance Sector, a city-hall subdivision, which must ensure:
- lifeguards at the Prut River and Lake Delia beaches throughout the season;
- the upkeep of the beaches and recreation areas;
- sanitary order on the beaches and around the rubbish containers.
The Ungheni Police Inspectorate is responsible for public order in the leisure areas, with more frequent patrols, according to the order. And vendors operating on the beaches must comply with sanitary norms, food safety and consumer protection, and keep their stalls’ surroundings clean.
A new road to the Prut beach, after May’s flash flood
Access to the Prut beach runs along a new road this year. The old one was destroyed by the flash flood of 22 May when — according to Ungheni City Hall — water coming down from the ponds at Mănoilești carved a crater in the area. Before the season opened, local authorities laid out the new access route, while the preparation of both beaches — loosening the sand, clearing plant debris and cleaning up — was handled by the company Servicii Comunale Ungheni and the Maintenance Sector.
Because the Prut is a border river, City Hall also reminds beachgoers of a few rules specific to the bank: do not try to swim across to the other side, and carry your identity document together with the border accompanying slip. And children should not be left by the water without an adult watching them.
Why a lifeguard matters
A lifeguard post may seem a detail. In Moldova, it is more of an exception.
On 19 June, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) launched its drowning-prevention campaign for the warm season. At that point, the institution reported that 18 people had drowned in Moldova since the start of 2026, including two children.
Almost all of these tragedies happen at unsupervised, undeveloped spots. According to IGSU data, only around 19 beaches across the country are equipped with a lifeguard post, out of thousands of water bodies where people swim at their own risk. So a beach with a lifeguard, like the two in Ungheni, is not a formality but a safety measure.
Who is responsible for the water
The quality of the water people swim in is not a matter of luck. Bathing waters in recreation areas are monitored by the National Agency for Public Health (ANSP) under Government Decision No. 890 of 2013, and bathing sites undergo a sanitary authorisation before the season. The authority’s recommendation is simple: swim only where the water is checked and where there are lifeguards.
Delia, more than a summer beach
For Ungheni, Lake Delia is no longer just a swimming spot. Covering roughly a hundred hectares, the lake passed in 2024 from state ownership into the municipality’s management, and since then the city has been building a recreation area around it. In January 2026, the Municipal Council approved a regulation for managing the lake (Decision No. 1-23 of 29 January 2026), and in May councillors voted to finance the first stage of the project “Development of the Lake Delia promenade” (Decision No. 4/5 of 15 May 2026).
The work is not finished. Questions are already appearing on City Hall’s page about when the promised features at Delia will be ready — the footbridge to the island, for example. So the season opens with the promenade still under construction.
Simple rules for a summer without tragedy
IGSU’s recommendations for anyone heading to the water remain the same: swim only at developed sites with lifeguards; keep children under constant watch; do not swim at night, in bad weather or after drinking alcohol; and call the single emergency number 112 in case of danger.
For the people of Ungheni, the concrete message of summer 2026 is that, from 21 June, they have two officially opened beaches — on the Prut and on Delia — where a lifeguard watches over the water.
The opening date, the list of responsibilities and the presence of lifeguards come from the order of the mayor of Ungheni, registered in the State Register of Local Acts; the full text was obtained via OCR from the scanned act attached to the registry. The figures on drownings and lifeguard-staffed beaches, as well as the safety recommendations, belong to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations. The framework for monitoring bathing water belongs to the National Agency for Public Health. The status and development of Lake Delia are confirmed by decisions of the Ungheni Municipal Council and by the official portal visitungheni.md. The details on the new access road to the Prut beach, the beach upkeep and the border rules come from Ungheni City Hall’s official communication of 19 June 2026.