Last year an Austrian team of experts analysed the waterworks of ten Romanian cities in the Danube region and drew up a catalogue of remedial measures for the most pressing defects. DI Dr. Eckart Hitsch, managing director and chemical engineer of the waterworks of Salzburg (A), is substantially involved as an unbiased confident for the Romanian operators of the waterworks.

In the ten analysed cities in the Danube basin - Calfat, Calarasi, Cernavoda, Corabia, Fetesti, Giugiu, Harsova Oltenita, Turnu, Magurele and Zimnicea – a total of 346,000 citizens have to be supplied with water daily.

According to managing director Hitsch the most serious problems are obvious: "On the one hand, water supply installations are oversized by far, on the other hand they are in very bad shape. In small cities with 20.000 inhabitants huge installations were built during the communist planned economy taking into account the water needs of industrial plants. These plants do not exist any more, but the small towns have to cope with oversized, out-dated installations and equipment."

Technological state of 1950

Water treatment companies are obviously very tempted by the disastrous conditions to offer the latest technology. However, in view of the financial situation and the lack of trained Romanian personnel a complete new construction is not the ideal solution in the eyes of the water expert Hitsch: "It doesn't make any sense to supply people with a complete new and advanced technology, who are not able to cope with the present equipment. They should rather be enabled to update the existing installations into a suitable technological and hygienic condition, and to modernise the pumps in particular."

Managing director Hitsch advises the Romanian operators to cut energy consumption by installing new and smaller pumps. A cut of about 30 percent is possible. The repair of the mains should have the same priority in order to reduce the incredibly high water losses of 70 percent at least by half. These measures should help to cut the costs of water supply by more than 50 percent.

Health-threatening water quality

The water of the Danube is being treated using the technology of the 50ies. However, this technology could treat water very successfully, if the installation were in an adequate state.

But according to Hitsch, this is exactly the problem: "There are no water meters for measuring the flow rate. The water amounts that are being treated, are not known and chemicals such as chlorine gas and aluminium sulphate (for flocculation) are not being dosed correctly. Damaged or lacking laboratory equipment and a lack of materials for quality control worsen the situation even more. Due to the disastrous composition of treatment chemicals, the quality of drinking water is inferior to that of raw water. Bureaucracy is the only thing that functions, but it just reflects Potemkin villages."

However, sanitation or repair of existing installations is not enough. According to the managing director of the Salzburg waterworks, the decisive step will be the introduction of a general accounting: "It is decisive to know the costs in order to identify the water fees. The incoming money should in any case be used for measures improving the water quality."

The Austrian expert team has compiled a catalogue of measures to be implemented in two phases. Basic measures for mitigating or relieving the worst defects will comprise the renewal of pumps, the sealing of pipelines and the installation of dosage equipment. These measures will cost about 6,54 million EUR (ATS 90 million).

The second phase will include the renewal and enlargement of the existing mains. In Rumania it is not a matter of course that every house is supplied with water. The second step will cost about 43,6 million EUR (ATS 600 million).

The ten Romanian Danubian cities are not able to implement these measures on their own. Well-off countries like Austria will finally have to help to restore hygienic status approximating our everyday conditions. (Source: 01/2000)
Dr. Alexander Tempelmayr

Information & Contact:

Salzburg AG - Center Wasser
Strubergasse 21
A-5020 Salzburg
Phone +43 662 4480-2402
Fax +43 662 4480-2404