Chapter 6
Drinking Water Supply
Systems—Evolution Towards Efficiency
Ciprian Bacotiu, Cristina Iacob and Peter Kapalo
Abstract Throughout humankind history, drinking water supply was crucial for the
survival of all communities. In Romania, major cities like Bucharest, Timi¸ soara,
Ia¸ si, Cluj all have a long and rich water history, full of achievements. The limited
space of one chapter is allowing us to only discuss the case of Cluj, especially
the period after 1989. The first section of this chapter highlights the most critical
moments in Cluj-Napoca’s water supply history, until the end of the communist
regime. A lot of technical data is presented, showing the continuous urban population
growth, followed by the investments in the water infrastructure. Between 1945 and
1989, the evolution was primarily focused on the quantitative aspects, in the context
of the centralized economy which had its influence on the entire development of
the city and also on the activity of the local water operator. The second section
discusses the profound transformations that took place after the Revolution (1989)
in the field of water supply systems: market economy, inflation, water metering, reorganization of water companies, new materials and equipment, access to European
funds, strong measures for efficiency. The following three sections are dedicated to
the new technologies and paradigms that had a tremendous positive impact on the
activity of the Cluj regional water company. The next section describes the plans
for the development of the water supply systems in the Somes , -Tisa region. The
fight against water losses will be a top priority. Finally, several conclusions and
recommendations were presented, with emphasis on the objectives of a modern
water operator and on the value of water.
Keywords Water distribution · Cluj · Multicriteria decision · GIS · SCADA
C. Bacotiu (B) · C. Iacob
Building Services Engineering Faculty, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca,
Romania
e-mail: ciprian.bacotiu@insta.utcluj.ro
C. Iacob
e-mail: cristina.iacob@insta.utcluj.ro
P. Kapalo
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Building and Environmental Engineering, Technical
University of Košice, Košice, Slovak Republic
e-mail: peter.kapalo@tuke.sk
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. M. Negm et al. (eds.), Water Resources Management in Romania, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22320-5_6
197
Drinking Water Supply
Systems—Evolution Towards Efficiency
Ciprian Bacotiu, Cristina Iacob and Peter Kapalo
Abstract Throughout humankind history, drinking water supply was crucial for the
survival of all communities. In Romania, major cities like Bucharest, Timi¸ soara,
Ia¸ si, Cluj all have a long and rich water history, full of achievements. The limited
space of one chapter is allowing us to only discuss the case of Cluj, especially
the period after 1989. The first section of this chapter highlights the most critical
moments in Cluj-Napoca’s water supply history, until the end of the communist
regime. A lot of technical data is presented, showing the continuous urban population
growth, followed by the investments in the water infrastructure. Between 1945 and
1989, the evolution was primarily focused on the quantitative aspects, in the context
of the centralized economy which had its influence on the entire development of
the city and also on the activity of the local water operator. The second section
discusses the profound transformations that took place after the Revolution (1989)
in the field of water supply systems: market economy, inflation, water metering, reorganization of water companies, new materials and equipment, access to European
funds, strong measures for efficiency. The following three sections are dedicated to
the new technologies and paradigms that had a tremendous positive impact on the
activity of the Cluj regional water company. The next section describes the plans
for the development of the water supply systems in the Somes , -Tisa region. The
fight against water losses will be a top priority. Finally, several conclusions and
recommendations were presented, with emphasis on the objectives of a modern
water operator and on the value of water.
Keywords Water distribution · Cluj · Multicriteria decision · GIS · SCADA
C. Bacotiu (B) · C. Iacob
Building Services Engineering Faculty, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca,
Romania
e-mail: ciprian.bacotiu@insta.utcluj.ro
C. Iacob
e-mail: cristina.iacob@insta.utcluj.ro
P. Kapalo
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Building and Environmental Engineering, Technical
University of Košice, Košice, Slovak Republic
e-mail: peter.kapalo@tuke.sk
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. M. Negm et al. (eds.), Water Resources Management in Romania, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22320-5_6
197