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Drivers, pressures
Drivers and Pressures
Waterdemand for households, industry and agriculture decreased considerably between 1990 and 2008, from 20.4 billion m3 in 1990, to 9.44 billion m3 – about 24 % of the usable water resource
The reasons for this included: reduction in industrial activity, reduction in water consumption in technological processes, reduction of losses and implementation of an economic mechanism for water management.
The existing water supply systems cover only 65 % of householddemand. The quality of water supplied by the 1 398 water treatment installations – mostly equipped with obsolete and ineffective technologies – are in 10-25 % of them below the requiredstandards from the chemical parameter point of view, depending on the size of the settlement and the technologyused.
Also, 25 % of the public water supply systems servingsettlements with 50 to 5 000 inhabitantsprovidewater which does not comply with bacteriological and silt contentparameters, or with ammonium, nitrate and iron contentlimits.Ten percentof the public water systems for settlements with more than 5 000 inhabitants supply water thatis inadequate from the point of view of oxidation, silt content, taste and smell, and content of ammonium, iron, and nitrates.
Only a little above 50 % of the country’s population of 11.5 million, of whom 10.3 million live in urban areas, benefits from sewage systems . Inthis respect, 52 % ofthe total population has access to both running water and sewage, 16 % only to running water but not to sewage systems, and 32 % have access to neither.Only 33 % of rural area inhabitants are connected to running water supplysystems, and just 10 % to modern sewage systems.
The main sources of wastewater are the generation of thermal and electric power, 51 %; public utilities, mainly sewage systems, 36 %; and other activities, 13 %.
Responses
Water conservation, reuse and saving are encouraged by economic stimuli, mainly for those demonstrating a constant concern for protecting water quantity and quality, as well as by applying penalties for those who waste water or pollute the water sources.
Penalties are applied to users who ignoreprovisions regarding excessive use of water, as well as those who dischargepolluting substances into water sources.
The specific requirements for water management are differentiated, in order to achieve economicstimulation for sustainable useof water resources, according to source type and users groups, and pollutantsin discharged wastewaters.
Bonuses are granted, in line with the legal provisions, for users who constantly demonstratea care for the rational use of water and protection of water quality by only discharging wastewaters with a content ofpollutant substances belowthat specified in the water management permit.
Water management in Romania complies with the provisions of the Water Framework Directive 60/2000/CEE and those of other European Directives in the water field: Council Directive 75/440/EEC concerning the quality required of surface water intended for abstraction for drinking; Council Directive 76/464/EEC on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment;Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning pollution with nitrates from agricultural sources;Council Directive 78/659/EEC on the quality of freshwaters needing protection or improvement in order to support fish life; and Council Directive 91/271/EEC regarding urban wastewater treatment plants.
The quality of waters in Romania – surface waters, groundwater, wastewater, etc. – is monitored according to the methodological principles of the Romanian Integrated Water Monitoring System (RIWMS/SMIAR), restructured in compliance with the provisions of European Directives, and which became operational in 22 December 2006.
The national water monitoring system comprises two types of monitoring, according to the provisions of Law 310/2004 which modifies and amends the Law on Waters no. 107/1996, transposing the provisions of the Water Framework Directive 60/2000/CEE, as well as the other European Directives. Thus, surveillance monitoring is carried out, with the aim of assessing the state of all water bodies in the river basins, as well as operational monitoring, integrated into the surveillance monitoring, for water bodies presumed not to achieve the water protection objectives.
Regarding implementation of Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban wastewater treatment plants, the whole Romanian territory is a sensitive area and this requires a longer transition period, 12 years. The current stateof the infrastructure for urban wastewater collection and treatment, especially in rural areas, requires a large huge costs and considerable work for implementation, taking into account the commitment to comply with this Directive for all agglomerations of more than 2 000by 31 December 2020. The Ministry of Environment of Romania, together with other institutions, is responsible for monitoring the quality of surface waters and of natural receivers into which urban or industrial wastewater is discharged, and controlscompliance with the legislation in force and the elaboration of an Action Plan for the rehabilitation, modernisationand construction of urban wastewater collection and treatment systems.
The legal document in Romania, including all the requirements of the Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning pollution with nitrates from agricultural sources, is the Governmental Decree no. 964/2000 to approve the Action Plan for water protection against nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. Surface and groundwatersare regularly monitored, but the laboratory equipment is obsolete and insufficient. Farmland is only partly monitored for nutrient levels in the soil and quantities of fertiliser applied. Mostfarms and farming operators have manure and liquid animal waste storage facilities, but most require rehabilitation and refurbishment. There are many traditional animal breeding areas in rural communities, but the communes do not maintain storage platforms for manure and liquid animal waste. Urine and the liquids resulting from the decomposition of cattle and horse excrement in individual holdingsare usually collected in unsealed pits in the ground that allow nutrients, especially nitrates, to leachinto groundwater. In the case of pigs, this effluent seeps directly into the soil, without collection into a special sewer.
Vulnerable zoneswere first designated in 2004 by an Order of the Minister of Environment. In 2008 the vulnerable zones were redesigned, to includepotentially vulnerableones.Together they now accountfor 58 % of the country’s territory.
After 1989 the state-owned agricultural and livestock breeding operations were phased out. Their disappearance caused a strong regression in agricultural practice, which is still manifest.Many of these farms use manure as the main fertiliser, as it is the cheapest and most readilyavailable.That is why the use of chemical fertilisershas dropped toa quarter of thatin 1989.
The River Basin Management Plan, the main implementation tool of the Water Framework Directive, will be ready at the end of 2010. It will contain a summary of the measures required under Article 11 of the directive.These measures are envisaged as necessary to bring the water bodies progressively to the required status by the extended deadline, setting out the reasons for any significant delay in making these measures operational and the expected timetable for their implementation.
The River Basin Management Plan for 11 river basins in Romania, will be included in the Danube River basin District Management Plan, implementing the new concepts of the Water Framework Directive, whichprovide for an innovative approach towater management based on river basins and set specific deadlines to produce programmesof measures. The Water Framework Directive addresses inland surface waters, rivers and lakes; transitional waters; coastal waters; and groundwater. It establishes several integrative principles for water management,including public participation in planning and the integration of economic approaches, and also aims for the integration of water management into other policy areas. EU Member States should aim to achieve good status in all bodies of surface water by 2015and groundwaterby 2027,at the latest.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/2010/countries/ro/freshwater-drivers-and-pressures-romania or scan the QR code.
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