SANITARY PROTECTION AREAS OF GROUNDWATERS CATCHMENTS. PRINCIPLES AND PARTICULARITIES. CASE STUDY–BUZAU CITY WATER SUPPLY, ROMANIA

9th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference - SGEM2009, www.sgem.org, SGEM2009 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN 10: 954-91818-1-2, June 14-19, 2009, Vol. 1, 285-292 pp

ABSTRACT

Groundwater is an important source of drinking water for many human communities,
both urban and rural, their quality directly determining the health state of the
population. At European level a great importance is given to water, the Water
Framework Directive 60/200/EC establishing clear objectives through which all
European waters (including groundwaters) should achieve a “good status” until 2015
and through which water should be used in a sustainable way throughout Europe. In this
context, sanitary protection of groundwater is very important for their quality
conservation and also for the health state of the people that use it. In Romania, the legal
basis regarding the concept and the dimension of the sanitary protection areas is given
by the “Water Law”, completed by “The Law regarding the amendment and completion
of Water Law no.107/1996”, and by “Decision regarding the approval of special Norms
regarding the character and size of sanitary and hydrogeological protection areas”.
Gouvernamental Decision 930/2005 stipulates the set up of three protection areas in the
field with different degrees of risk towards the pollution factors: the sanitary protection
area with severe regime, the sanitary protection area with restriction regime and the
hydrogeological protection perimeter. In the same normative act there are also stipulated
the principles which are at the basis of the dimensioning of the sanitary protection areas
and the delineation of the hydrogeological protection perimeter, specifying the fact that
the setting up of these areas must be done after an in-depth analysis of the
geomorphological, geological and hydrogeological local conditions. This paper
presents, as an example, the dimensioning of the sanitary protection areas and the
delineation of the hydrogeological protection perimeter for the Buzau city water supply
(98 short and depth wells).

Keywords: groundwater quality, sanitary protection areas, hydrogeological protection perimeter.