Results of the post flash-flood disaster investigations in the Transylvanian Depression (Romania) during the last decade (2001–2010)

Flash-flood disasters are very rare in the Transylvanian Depression. In the last decades just three events were signalled in the study area, all of them during the last 10 years. The flash floods occurring in the study area during the last decade had a significant impact on several localities situated at the Transylvanian Depression border. Based on the post flash-flood investigation, the present study intends to find out the main characteristics of the flash floods and the causes that have led to disasters in a region rarely affected by such kinds of events. Analyzing the hydrological data, it has been seen that the maximum intensity of the flash floods was observed in the upper and middle basins. By comparing the unit peak discharges from the studied region with other specific peak discharges related to the significant flash floods from Romania, it was noticed that the events from the Transylvanian Depression have moderate to low intensity. On the other hand, the results showed that besides high stream power and unexpected character common to flash floods, the inappropriate flood risk management measures increased the dimension of the negative effects, leading to tens of lives lost and economical damages of tens of millions of dollars

WATER QUALITY INDEX FOR ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER SOURCES FROM MEDIAŞ TOWN, SIBIU COUNTY

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the drinking water sources quality from Mediaş Town, Sibiu County. In November 2013, 6 water samples were taken from different drinking water sources and each water sample was analysed to determinate physico-chemical parameters (using a portable multiparameter WTW 320i major ions (using DIONEX ICS1500 ion chromatograph and heavy metals (using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer model ZENIT 700 Analytik Jena). The investigated physico-chemical parameters were: temperature, salinity, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, total dissolved solids (TDS) and redox potential (ORP). The analysed major ions were: lithium (Li+), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), magnesium (Mg2+), calcium (Ca2+), fluoride( F-), chloride (Cl-), bromide (Br-), nitrite (NO2-), nitrate (NO3-), phosphate (PO43- ) and sulphate (SO42-). The investigated heavy metals were: lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cooper (Cu), iron (Fe), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr) and arsenic (As). The Water Quality Index (WQI) was calculated using the analysed water quality parameters and it ranged from 76 (very poor water quality) to 375 (unsuitable for drinking)

Investigations on natural hazards which trigger technological disasters in Romania

Romania faces the challenges of a developing country preparing to cope with disasters, be they natural or technological. The paper entails comprehensive research on technological accidents triggered by natural hazards (so-called Natech accidents). The research is based on a survey conducted by the competent authorities on the Seveso II Directive in 2009. This survey enabled the identification of Natech hazards and their correlation with the vulnerability of local communities and infrastructures. The Natech hazards were analyzed also in terms of their inclusion in the emergency planning process, starting from the current legislation. The results indicate that the number of incidents (including Natech events) has significantly decreased subsequent to the appropriate implementation of emergency plans and safety reports

Large scale flood risk mapping in data scarce environments: An application for Romania

Large-scale flood risk assessment is essential in supporting national and global policies, emergency operations and land-use management. The present study proposes a cost-efficient method for the large-scale mapping of direct economic flood damage in data-scarce environments. The proposed framework consists of three main stages: (i) deriving a water depth map through a geomorphic method based on a supervised linear binary classification; (ii) generating an exposure land-use map developed from multi-spectral Landsat 8 satellite images using a machine-learning classification algorithm; and (iii) performing a flood damage assessment using a GIS tool, based on the vulnerability (depth-damage) curves method. The proposed integrated method was applied over the entire country of Romania (including minor order basins) for a 100-year return time at 30-m resolution. The results showed how the description of flood risk may especially benefit from the ability of the proposed cost-efficient model to carry out large-scale analyses in data-scarce environments. This approach may help in performing and updating risk assessments and management, taking into account the temporal and spatial changes in hazard, exposure, and vulnerability

DETERMINATION OF METALS CONTENT IN HOMEMADE TRANSYLVANIAN WHITE WINES

The mineral (K, Na, Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, Cr, Mn, Cu, Ni, Zn, As and Pb) content of homemade white wines from Transylvania were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results showed that all studied metals were below the maximum acceptable limits set both by the Romanian legislation and the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, except Cu and Zn in one sample. The high Cu, Mn and Zn contents found in one sample is probably as a consequence of the intensive use of metal based pesticides

Comparison of risk-based decision-support systems for brownfield site rehabilitation: DESYRE and SADA applied to a Romanian case study

Brownfield rehabilitation is an essential step for sustainable land-use planning and management in the European Union. In brownfield regeneration processes, the legacy contamination plays a significant role, firstly because of the persistent contaminants in soil or groundwater which extends the existing hazards and risks well into the future; and secondly, problems from historical contamination are often more difficult to manage than contamination caused by new activities. Due to the complexity associated with the management of brownfield site rehabilitation, Decision Support Systems (DSSs) have been developed to support problem holders and stakeholders in the decision-making process encompassing all phases of the rehabilitation. This paper presents a comparative study between two DSSs, namely SADA (Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance) and DESYRE (Decision Support System for the Requalification of Contaminated Sites), with the main objective of showing the benefits of using DSSs to introduce and process data and then to disseminate results to different stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. For this purpose, a former car manufacturing plant located in the Brasov area, Central Romania, contaminated chiefly by heavy metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons, has been selected as a case study to apply the two examined DSSs. Major results presented here concern the analysis of the functionalities of the two DSSs in order to identify similarities, differences and complementarities and, thus, to provide an indication of the most suitable integration options

THE MONITORING OF THE PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF CRIŞUL REPEDE RIVER

The aim of this work was to study the anthropogenic influence on surface waters quality. 130 surface water samples were collected from various sites from Crişul Repede River for 10 months (February 2013-November 2013). A portable multiparameter model WTW 320i was used to determine the physico-chemical parameters such as: temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and salinity of the collected water samples. The analysed parameters did not present values above the maximum admissible limit according to the Romanian Water Law (161/2006)

Flood damage assessment and uncertainity analysis: the case study of 2006 flood in Ilisua Basin in Romania

Flood damage assessments supply crucial information to support authorities, local entities, and the stakeholders involved in decision-making regarding flood risk management in their compliance with the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). Specifically, the estimation of economic flood damage provides objective results and rational procedure in so that relate legislative planning instruments in flood risk management can be understood, accepted and shared among stakeholders. However, flood damages assessment is specifically tailored to characteristics of the flooding and objects in the considered country. Moreover, the necessary information for this analysis are not always available for all European Countries, in particular regarding the damage functions which assumptions have large effects on flood damages estimation; therefore, the existence of uncertainties that may affect the final choice needs to be considered as in any decision process. In this paper, we have made an attempt to use different damage functions, collected and harmonized by the European Joint Research Centre (JRC), utilized in several European countries, for the flood losses assessment in Romania where these functions are not available. Moreover, we have compared the assessed damage obtained through the use of the JRC damages functions and real, surveyed damage in a case study in North-Western Romania, (i.e. Ilișua Basin), regarding the flood that occurred in June 2006, and analyze uncertainties. The performed analysis has demonstrated that the outcomes are influenced by the selection and testing of vulnerability curves. Our results show that overall applicability and transferability of depth-damage curves to other geographical regions is still a major gap in current flood damage modeling, but the quantification of the uncertainties and its communication to stakeholders are the first step for the maximization of effectiveness of quantitative approach, towards flood risk management objectives of the Flood Directive, ensuring that risk information is robust, credible and transparent

ASSESSMENT OF GROUND WATER QUALITY STATUS BY USING WATER QUALITY INDEX (WQI) METHOD IN TURENI VILLAGE, CLUJ COUNTY

The rural population from Romania is dealing even today with the absence of access to a sure drinking water source. Therefore in 2002 only 65% of the Romanian population had access to drinking water, distributed in 90% from the urban environment and 33% from the rural one (www.recensamant2002.ro). This work presents a case study referring to a 3 month (April-May-June 2011) monitoring of weekly samples of the quality of well water (10 samples) from Tureni village, Cluj County. A portable multiparameter model WTW 720 Germany was used to measure the pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), temperature, oxidation-reduction potential and salinity of the collected water samples (these tests were done on site). In laboratory, using the photometric method (RQ Flex instrument, Merck) we determined : Ca2+, Mg2+, SO42-, Cl- and NO3- (C. Nertan et C. Rosu, 2008). The analyzed well water samples have values over the legally admitted limits by the Romanian legislation for the drinking waters (L 458/2002) in the calcium cation, the nitrate and sulfate anion, but also in the global parameters: salinity and TDS

Flood damage assessment and uncertainty analysis: The case study of 2006 flood in Ilisua basin in Romania

Flood damage assessments supply crucial information to support authorities, local entities, and the stakeholders involved in decision-making regarding flood risk management in their compliance with the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). Specifically, the estimation of economic flood damage provides objective results and rational procedure in so that relate legislative planning instruments in flood risk management can be understood, accepted and shared among stakeholders. However, flood damages assessment is specifically tailored to characteristics of the flooding and objects in the considered country. Moreover, the necessary information for this analysis are not always available for all European Countries, in particular regarding the damage functions which assumptions have large effects on flood damages estimation; therefore, the existence of uncertainties that may affect the final choice needs to be considered as in any decision process. In this paper, we have made an attempt to use different damage functions, collected and harmonized by the European Joint Research Centre (JRC), utilized in several European countries, for the flood losses assessment in Romania where these functions are not available. Moreover, we have compared the assessed damage obtained through the use of the JRC damages functions and real, surveyed damage in a case study in North-Western Romania, (i.e. Ilişua Basin), regarding the flood that occurred in June 2006, and analyze uncertainties. The performed analysis has demonstrated that the outcomes are influenced by the selection and testing of vulnerability curves. Our results show that overall applicability and transferability of depth-damage curves to other geographical regions is still a major gap in current flood damage modeling, but the quantification of the uncertainties and its communication to stakeholders are the first step for the maximization of effectiveness of quantitative approach, towards flood risk management objectives of the Flood Directive, ensuring that risk information is robust, credible and transparent