1 Introduction to “Water Resources Management in Romania”
9
Chapter 9 indicates that reducing forest areas under pressure from economic activities that require this type of resource, is one of the most important topics of debate,
both at the level of the scientific world, as well as for the affected communities in
the short, medium and long term. Therefore, the chapter aimed to evaluate the forest
areas in the period 2000–2016 and their correlation with the frequency of flooding.
To highlight the correlation between the forest cuts and the increase of the flood
frequency, detailed analyzes were carried out on the main mountain groups from
Romania, where the growth of deforested areas has led to an obvious increase in
the frequency of floods. A database of deforested areas has been made by extracting
654,178 Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite images, characterizing the areas covered with
forest and changes from 2000 to 2016. For spatial quantification at the local level,
a spatial join was made, for each administrative-territorial unit, the newly created
file containing the attribute table, including the column that sums the pixels in each
administrative-territorial unit. The database was completed with the frequency of
floods at the level of each territorial administrative unit. Encouraging exports of
woody raw materials and low incomes of the population have made that illegal cuts
get a great extent, and the lack of the general cadastre made the evidence of forest
areas uncertain, favouring illegalities in the management of forest resources. Under
these circumstances, cutting forests on nearly 400,000 ha has led to major imbalances
in ecosystems, changing the drainage of water on the slopes is the immediate consequence. Researching the relationship between deforested areas and frequency of
floods can open a new research area, on identifying types of deforestation by fractal
and non-fractal analysis.
1.6 Hydrology
Chapter 10 presents a review on the main research findings on hydro-climatic changes
in Romania and provides new results on hydrological responses to climate changes
in a Carpathian watershed, based on the analysis of historical data and hydrological
modeling. The hydrological changes in Romania are integrated into the context of
the streamflow changes identified at global and European spatial scales, which are
synthesized in the first part of the chapter. Further, an overview of observed and
projected changes in main climate parameters controlling the river flow in Romania
is presented, followed by a review of studies on streamflow trends and hydrological
impacts (observed and projected) of climate changes in Romania. In the last part of
the chapter, the authors investigated the hydrological responses to climate changes in
a small mountain catchment (Valea Cerbului River) located in the Carpathians. Based
on recorded data, changes in the magnitude and frequency of floods, as well as in
the frequency of low flows were analyzed. The possible future streamflow changes
in Valea Cerbului River catchment were estimated by simulations with WaSiMEth model, under B1, A2 and A1B climatic scenario, for the period 2001–2065
relative to 1961–2000 period. In summary, the chapter shows that after 1960, a
general decreasing trend of the mean annual streamflow was detected in Romania.
9
Chapter 9 indicates that reducing forest areas under pressure from economic activities that require this type of resource, is one of the most important topics of debate,
both at the level of the scientific world, as well as for the affected communities in
the short, medium and long term. Therefore, the chapter aimed to evaluate the forest
areas in the period 2000–2016 and their correlation with the frequency of flooding.
To highlight the correlation between the forest cuts and the increase of the flood
frequency, detailed analyzes were carried out on the main mountain groups from
Romania, where the growth of deforested areas has led to an obvious increase in
the frequency of floods. A database of deforested areas has been made by extracting
654,178 Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite images, characterizing the areas covered with
forest and changes from 2000 to 2016. For spatial quantification at the local level,
a spatial join was made, for each administrative-territorial unit, the newly created
file containing the attribute table, including the column that sums the pixels in each
administrative-territorial unit. The database was completed with the frequency of
floods at the level of each territorial administrative unit. Encouraging exports of
woody raw materials and low incomes of the population have made that illegal cuts
get a great extent, and the lack of the general cadastre made the evidence of forest
areas uncertain, favouring illegalities in the management of forest resources. Under
these circumstances, cutting forests on nearly 400,000 ha has led to major imbalances
in ecosystems, changing the drainage of water on the slopes is the immediate consequence. Researching the relationship between deforested areas and frequency of
floods can open a new research area, on identifying types of deforestation by fractal
and non-fractal analysis.
1.6 Hydrology
Chapter 10 presents a review on the main research findings on hydro-climatic changes
in Romania and provides new results on hydrological responses to climate changes
in a Carpathian watershed, based on the analysis of historical data and hydrological
modeling. The hydrological changes in Romania are integrated into the context of
the streamflow changes identified at global and European spatial scales, which are
synthesized in the first part of the chapter. Further, an overview of observed and
projected changes in main climate parameters controlling the river flow in Romania
is presented, followed by a review of studies on streamflow trends and hydrological
impacts (observed and projected) of climate changes in Romania. In the last part of
the chapter, the authors investigated the hydrological responses to climate changes in
a small mountain catchment (Valea Cerbului River) located in the Carpathians. Based
on recorded data, changes in the magnitude and frequency of floods, as well as in
the frequency of low flows were analyzed. The possible future streamflow changes
in Valea Cerbului River catchment were estimated by simulations with WaSiMEth model, under B1, A2 and A1B climatic scenario, for the period 2001–2065
relative to 1961–2000 period. In summary, the chapter shows that after 1960, a
general decreasing trend of the mean annual streamflow was detected in Romania.