More Than Half Of Romania’s Surface Vulnerable To Nitrate Pollution

Romania needs to implement and abide by European Commission Directive 91/676/EEC on the protection of waters against pollution with nitrates from agriculture sources, and the ANAR is the Romanian institution in charge with monitoring the quality of Romanian underground and surface waters.

According to a press release issued by the ANAR Tuesday, between 2004 and 2007, areas vulnerable to nitrate pollution represented some 8.20% of the overall farming surface. However, the EC directive required a new outline of vulnerable areas, with the inclusion of potentially vulnerable areas, which brought the total surface of areas vulnerable to nitrate pollution to "58% of Romania's surface."

"Thus, on a national level, 1,963 localities raised flags, representing 137.565 square kilometers, namely some 58% of Romania's surface," said ANAR representatives.

The ANAR monitored nitrate concentrations 1,301 points for surface waters and 1,373 points for underground waters, between 2004 and 2007. Since the maximum allowed limit for nitrates in water is 50 milligrams per liter, the report shows that 89.22% of samples collected show nitrate amounts below the allowed ceiling, and 75.31% of these never cross the limit imposed by the EC.

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