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Rockfalls are very common in Romania and represent a severe threat due to their high propagation velocity that, independently from the volumes involved, can be extremely dangerous to people and any civil engineering works like dams, roads, and adjacent buildings. Therefore, it is necessary to preliminary identify those areas most prone to this type of process to pursue territorial planning with an awareness of hazards and risks [1]. Tarnita Dam is located in Cluj County, on the left bank of Tarnita Lake/ Reservoir. An essential aspect is that Tarnita Dam and the formed reservoir have a triple role. They were initially built to produce electricity, but the water from the reservoir is also used to supply drinking water. Thirdly, the dam plays an important role in preventing floods in the area. This reservoir is the main source for Gilau Treatment Plant, which supplies the drinking and industrial water for Cluj-Napoca City and other localities in Cluj County. In the last years, in Tarnita Dam area were recorded massive rockfalls, which endanger the integrity of the constructions of the raw water intake tower; thus, there is a risk of interruption of water supply. Therefore, it was established that specific measures should be taken to avoid an imminent disaster. This paper presents the geomorphological, geotechnical and geomechanical investigations made on the left-hand slope. These investigations were carried out to derive protection measures, to identify hazards, and associated risks and to develop long-term rockfall protection solutions to secure Tarnita Dam and the entire area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems of potable quality groundwater pollution have now become one of the most important on the Earth. According to UN, about 2 billion people currently lack access to drinking water. Climatic change and increased negative impact of anthropogenic factors significantly affected the quality of water resources. Groundwater is the main source for drinking and other domestic purposes. Many developing regions of the world suffer from shortage of safe drinking water. Basically, the main reason is that due to global warming many regions on the Earth suffer from insufficient atmospheric precipitation, and arid regions are especially affected by droughts. In this regard, most of the territory of Kazakhstan found itself within the area of significantly decreased precipitation. First of all, it is the territory of Western Kazakhstan. Groundwater plays a significant role in the water supply of the republic. Fresh groundwater has a number of significant advantages versus surface water, because it is usually of higher quality, is better protected from pollution and contamination, and its resources are less susceptible to long-term and seasonal fluctuations. Western Kazakhstan (Aktobe, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan and Mangistau regions) occupies the North Caspian Depression, the Ural and Trans-Ural Plateaus, the Mugodzhary, northern Aral Sea region and the desert plateaus of Ustyurt and Mangistau. It occupies the total area of 736.24 thousand km2 (27% of the republican area). The region as a whole is notable for the uneven distribution of fresh groundwater. The areas adjacent to river watercourses and areas adjacent to mountain elevations, which are the main nutrition areas for hydrogeological interstitial groundwater basins, are the best provided with groundwater. The areas remote from river and mountain systems are characterized by an acute shortage of surface waters and groundwater [1]. Groundwater exploitable reserves are explored in the amount of 31.51 m3 /s, which make 6.3% of the total explored reserves of the country. The availability of groundwater exploitable reserves for the region is characterized by values of 3.7 m3 /day (24 hours) per 1 km2 and 1.11 m3 /day (24 hours) per capita, which is lower than the indicators for the republic in general. The main consumers of groundwater are cities, villages, rural settlements and industrial enterprises. Groundwater is most intensively used for drinking, industrial and technical water supply and irrigation of pastures. There is still no country in the world where all 100% of the population is guaranteed to be provided with safe drinking water, since any technical systems for supplying drinking water will necessarily fail someday, and there are no purification systems that would completely purify water from dangerous pollution agents. So, in 2008, sewage pumping stations were bombed in Israel, and due to the lack of drainage lines, wastewater mixed with the waters of underground sources. Today, there is an acute problem of drinking water there, and 90% of the water is unsuitable for drinking; Israel partially converts seawater into drinking water. Kazakhstan, like many countries of Central Asia, is located in the areas with prevailing arid climate, and large rivers are transboundary. The discharges of these rivers are decreasing from year to year, and the water quality often does not meet the requirements of GOST “Drinking Water” and sanitary and epidemiological standards. Groundwater is considered to be the main drinking resource in the world. The idea of this project in Kazakhstan has no analogue, therefore it is relevant scientifically and technologically. The fact is that in 2016 the Institute has purchased a unique automated analytical instrument, the SCION Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer of the SQPremium model, which determines the content of organic substances in the volume of the studied water up to 5 ml with high accuracy. The use of this device can significantly improve the accuracy of the analysis of drinking water for the organic compounds content. The world experience in the field of supplying the population with clean drinking water is under the constant supervision of the UN, which systematically considers the situation around the world, developing special targeted Programs also through UNESCO and the UNDP Development Programs for underdeveloped countries. Up till now the majority of the population of developing countries is not provided with high-quality drinking water, which entails morbidity rate increase and high mortality of people due to contaminated drinking water consumption. Currently, about 80 chemical elements are determined in fresh groundwater during chemical analysis. However, their number is growing every year. Taking into account the improvement of artificial substances development methods, for example, preparations for pest control of agricultural crops (pesticides and herbicides), the tasks of chemical analysis of natural waters should be as well constantly improved. These substances do not exist in nature; they were created by man. However, these substances getting into drinking water will pose a threat to human health and life. Therefore, the study of the hydrogeochemical conditions of the drinking water deposits of Kazakhstan is becoming an overriding issue of paramount national importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organization of a closed cycle of water use is one of the priorities for both recycling water supply systems and wastewater treatment systems of industrial enterprises. Water cooling systems are considered and the possibility of closed water cycle organization is estimated. For cooling systems of circulating water supply of industrial enterprises, depending on the water content, the cooling scheme can be: running, open (evaporative cooling) and close. The technological scheme of water treatment based on the complex approach is offered. This approach allows to create a closed cycle of water use with high quality of purified water and allows the use of ferrous sediment. Water-treatment technologies are considered. Membranes are used at 2 stages of aeration process: * directly at the stage of aeration: it is possible to obtain air bubbles of 350 – 450 micrometers with the help of ceramic membranes; * at the last stage of filtration: in addition to the removal of iron, the content of manganese, microorganisms in the water is reduced, the content of chlorine and heavy metals is reduced. Also produced partial softening of water, while maintaining 80-110 mg / l of salts necessary for the human body. The water is transparent and increase its flavor. Iron-containing slurries can be used as additives to raw materials for the production of cement clinker. The inclusion of small amounts of these additives in the raw material mixtures for the production of cement clinker essentially does not change the firing technologies used in cement enterprises and does not affect the quality of the clinker produced. Also, iron-containing slurries can be used in the ingredients of various functional purposes: fillers, promoters of adhesion of rubber to metals, vulcanization activators The conducted research on the study of bubbling showed the effectiveness of the use of ceramic tubular membranes as a dispersing material. This technical solution allows: * Reduce water intake and related charges by 5-10%; * Create a closed circuit with no liquid waste and charges for their discharge into water bodies; * Reduce the amount of solid waste and dispose of it; * Reduce the need for production facilities; * To reduce operating costs for chemical reagents and replaceable elements; * Increase the capacity of the washing water recycling system due to the modularity of the equipment, without replacing the existing equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an assessment of power generation losses of a hydropower plant (HPP) due to an imposed reservoir management plan and comparisons in terms of monetary value with the existing management plan but with an eutrophic reservoir. The study case is represented by Golești reservoir, which is a shallow reservoir in Romania, and the associated HPP. Golești reservoir is an artificial lake of medium size, which has a 55·106 m3 volume and a maximum depth of 32 m. Its use is complex: it allows flood control, hydropower generation, household and industrial water supply and irrigation. Thus, it prevents downstream flooding for a 50 km2 area, it provides a flow of 156 m3/day for Bucharest (domestic and industrial) and 9 m3/s for irrigation of a 100 km2 area, it is secondary source for industrial water supply of Pitesti City (up to 6 m3/s) and it's also used for electricity generation in the associated HPP Golești having an installed capacity of 8 MW. A previous study has concluded that, for the optimal operation of Golești reservoir, both energetically and environmentally, it is recommended a frequent use of the bottom discharge. The result was a management plan which requires the use of the bottom discharge every 2 weeks, at least 1 hour at 20 m3/s and at least once every 2 years, at least 1 hour at maximum flow, in order to flush sediments and to avoid reservoir clogging. In this context, the present study aims to introduce these hypotheses into the reservoir management plan, in order to assure a proper quality of water, and to assess the power generation losses in terms of electricity production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sectoral Operational Programme Environment 2007-2013 is one of the most important European operational programmes and is the most consistent source of funding for the environmental sector in Romania. The overall objective of the SOP is to improve the living standards of the population and the environmental standards and at the same time, it contributes substantially to Romania's post-accession commitments to the European Union regarding environmental protection. Regarding water management, the specific objective of the SOP is to improve the quality of and access to water and wastewater infrastructure, by providing water supply and sewerage services in most urban areas by 2015, as well as establishing effective regional structures for the management of water/ wastewater services. After a brief overview of the provisions of the SOP, the article presents the hydrographical potential as well as the management of these resources in the municipality of Roman, an important and dynamic urban centre in Romania. Numerous projects for the maintenance, expansion and modernization of the sewerage network in the city are being developed presently. Moreover, projects are being implemented for the modification of the way in which water is captured and distributed. Thus, the existing groundwater sources will be used exclusively to cover the drinking water supply of the municipality, while major businesses and industrial water consumers will meet their water needs from their own sources, preferably from surface water sources. In order to improve tourist attraction in the city of Roman, as well as for economic reasons, a project is being prepared in order to build a micro-hydropower plant on the Moldova River with the help of several European funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]