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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

Priority Axis 2 Environment
 Field of intervention 2. 2. Development of joint infrastructure and services to prevent natural or technological disasters, including joint intervention services in emergency situations.
Operation 1 : Joint prevention of natural and technological risks.

TOTAL project value – 5,857,020 EUR.

Romanian contribution – 5,393,735 EUR ( 4,574,966.03 - FEDR; 701,185.55 – State budget; 117,583.42 own contribution)
Buglarian contribution - 463.285 euro
 

The overall objective

Improving and developing relations of cooperation and collaboration between Romania and Bulgaria to prevent degradation of environmental quality in the cross border region of Olt-Belene

Strengthening the cooperation between Romania and Bulgaria in the border region will be achieved by implementing an integrated information system that will monitor water discharged into sewer systems of Compania de Apa Olt, to prevent degradation of water quality flowing in the cross border region Olt Belene. The system also will contain information on the level of air pollution in the region Belene, a measurement taken by the newly installed monitoring station. In the long term, it will facilitate the coordination of measures for the protection of water quality in the cross border region Olt Belene.

The cross- border nature of the project is reinforced by the role of the computer system which will be implemented to inform in real-time decision-makers in the field of environment in the region of Olt-Belene on the pollution level registered by the sensors placed on the ground in areas where monitored operators discharge wastewater in the sewage system of the regional operator.

 

Specific objectives

 

• Improvement of the environmental quality in the border region Olt Belene;
• Improvement of the decision-making process in ensuring the quality of the environment in the cross border region Olt Belene;
• Raising awareness of decision makers in the field of water utilities in the cross border region Olt Belene, and the media regarding the impact of wastewater discharges on the environment and life.

Another aspect that will improve considerably and is of great importance, is the real-time communication between relevant stakeholders and partners through the sharing of the monitoring computerized system. With this system appropriate corrective action will be taken by law enforcement authorities in order to preserve the environment in the common border area Olt Belene.

 

Target groups:

• Olt county's population - about 470,000 inhabitants;
• Possible polluting companies;
• Students from schools in Olt county.

 

Beneficiaries of the project

 

Lead partner is the Association for Inter-Community Development of Public Utilities for the Water Supply and Sewage Service „OLTUL”.

Partner 2 is the Municipality of Belene, Pleven region - BULGARIA

 

The association was founded in 2007 and has the main duty to manage the water supply system and sewerage system. Management is done through delegated management system, work is delegated to Compania de Apa Olt, in accordance with the relevant legal provisions (Art. 31 of Law no. 51/2006, as amended and supplemented, and art. 21 of Law no. 241/2006, as further amended and supplemented, a regional operator, as defined in Art. 2 paragraph g) of Law 51/2006, as amended and supplemented, whose share capital will be owned entirely by the administrative-territorial units of the Association).

The association is interested in maintaining functional sewage system and to ensure that water reaches the system, and the discharge water is of the highest quality possible.

Therefore, a monitoring system to provide accurate information to make decisions about managing public utilities networks is necessary.

It is widely known that the quality and quantity of water available in Europe is an important issue. In 2000, the EU adopted the Framework Directive on water quality, and important progress has been made on adopting an integrated approach to manage freshwater resources in order to achieve a "good state" of all waters by 2015. Many EU countries have adopted Management plans of catchments for the period 2009 - 2015 in order to ensure better management of water resources.

"The plan to protect Europe's water resources" is being developed in response to the continuous challenge of European Union policy of drawing targets for water policy at EU level. It is based on a number of ongoing assessments, including at the level of management plans of catchments and of EU action in terms of water scarcity and drought.

"The plan to protect Europe's water resources" will identify current gaps and future priorities and provide guidance for policy development in the field of water by 2020.

It also concerns making analyses that integrate economic and climate modelling until 2050.

According to the study of the ICPDR (International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River) the quality of water in the Danube depreciates after each water discharge, the major pollutants being urban environments is its basin, both from Romania and Bulgaria.

All these urban areas collect water from both the population and industrial operators in the area.

The sewage system of Slatina is unitary, which means that all waters, both household, industrial, and rainwater are collected and transported in common to treatment plants or are discharged directly into the outfall. Therefore the entire collection and wastewater treatment system is under pressure of various kinds.

           One of the most significant problems is that in the sewerage network are discharged wastewater from industrial operators, which significantly affects the quality of treatment.

The diversity of categories of substances that are contained in the wastewater is determined by the specifics of each industrial activity and can affect the treatment process.

        Although by law certain economic operators must have pre-treatment stations for wastewater before it can be discharged into the sewerage networks, at present there is no automatic monitoring system of the quality of these waters, there is no real control of it.

 

The need for the Discharged water monitoring system discharged into sewer systems

 

         It is very important for us to know both the quality of wastewater and the amount of water discharged by economic operators, so that treatment plants can take the necessary measures for the wastewater treatment, otherwise , pollutants can surpass the treatment plant, reaching the Danube, thus affecting both countries, Romania and Bulgaria.

Also, at the moment there are no initiatives, joints actions or exchanges between Romania and Bulgaria based on which fast and effective measures could be taken so as to prevent or manage certain emergencies related to water pollution.

For the purposes of the above EU guidelines were developed some imposing water-sewage companies to take measures to reduce environmental pollution.

         Quality parameters of industrial waste water discharged into sewers are set by the Romanian laws and applicable nationwide (NTPA 002/2002).

 

No.	Quality Indicator	MU	Maximum permitted levels.
1.	TEMPERATURE	ºC	40
2.	pH	pH units	6,5-8,5
3.	CYANIDES	mg/dm³	1,0
4.	FATS (OILS)	mg/dm³	30
5.	CHLORINE	mg/dm³	0,5
6.	ORGANIC SUBSTANCES - POTASSIUM DICHROMATE METHOD [CCO(CR)1)]	mg O2/dm3	500

 

In order to meet these standards, it is necessary for most industries to provide pre-treatment of water before discharge into the municipal sewer system. A measure that could be adopted by Compania de Apa Olt is imposing the "polluter pays" principle.

 

Improvement of the decision-making process with regard to ensuring the environmental quality in the cross border area Olt-Belene

 

The system monitoring the water dischared in the network managed by Compania de Apa Olt and air quality monitoring system in Belene will provide decision makers in the field the necessary information for optimal decisions so as to prevent environmental degradation in Olt-Belene region. The IT application that will be implemented by the project will process and display real-time data from sensors placed in Slatina, in the sections where monitored economic operators discharge wastewaters in the sewers of the regional operator, by issuing a warning in case of exceeding the values of the selected parameters. Incidents can be located spatially and temporally, with generated geo-spatial included in the integrated information system. In this way any blockage in the water treatment process will be prevented and therefore pollution of rivers in the cross border region of Olt-Belene will be prevented.

         Increasing the level of interactivity, collaboration and sharing of information between the partners involved in the project will take place through the components of the internal portal to be developed, that will unite all components of the integrated information system for monitoring water discharges into the sewerage system of Compania de Apa Olt and information about air quality in Belene in a joint area and of decision-making institutions in the prevention of water and air quality degradation in the region of Olt-Belene. The external component of the portal aims to inform citizens and media through analysis and informative reports about the quantity and quality of water discharges in the sewer systems of Compania de Apa Olt, but also to measure the impact regarding water discharges in the environment and on daily life of the population in the cross border area Olt Belene.

 

An integrated computerized system for monitoring the discharged water will be implemented, which will involve:

• Installation of sensors for the most important factors of pollution in Olt county in wastewater discharge points within the regional sewage operator in order to continuously monitor flows, the amount of water discharged and the following parameters: pH, temperature, amount of organic substances, cyanide, chlorine, fat;
• Automatic data collection from sewage discharge points and sending them to the dispatcher of the  wastewater treatment plant;
• Centralization on a central server of the data recorded by sensors within the monitoring application installed; data acquisition will be effected via radio or GPRS communication;
• Graphical view of incidents caused by exceeding the discharged water quality parameters using geospatial solutions;
• Implementation of the investment management application that allows you to manage contracts concluded with water consumers;
• A station for monitoring and displaying the information on air quality will be installed in Belene, which will be displayed on the portal, thus ensuring availability for colleagues in Romania. Meanwhile, the cross-border environmental education centre in Belene will be available both for the Romanian and Bulgarian children.

 

Documents