200
C. Bacotiu et al.
6.2 Opportunities After 1990
In 1990, the legacy of the totalitarian regime became obvious in the field of drinking
water systems. Under the grip of Ceau¸ sescu, Romania’s main objective was to repay
the external debt as soon as possible. Therefore the decade 1980–1990 was dominated
by various “strange” rules and restrictions concerning quality investments in the
infrastructure. Every equipment or material had to be made by the national industry
(as cheap as possible), and imports were forbidden. As an example, cast iron was
considered an “energy-intensive” material and was massively substituted by asbestos
cement for the new drinking water pipes (which later proved to be a health hazard
and banned in many countries).
Therefore, at the end of 1989, the situation was challenging: out-of-date and
obsolete equipment (the effect of “savings”), an old drinking water supply network
(with some 100 years old pipes), substantial water losses, no general metering.
It is necessary to point out that in the centralized command economy, there was
no inflation (this concept was not officially acceptable), all prices were controlled by
the government, so water was very cheap. This was not a bad thing per se, but had
a dangerous side-effect at that time: almost nobody was seriously concerned about
water losses, metering or wasting water. Anyway, the official reports about water
losses were carefully “prepared”, and the Party leaders said that Romania is going
steadfast to the communism…
Then, in December 1989 the Revolution has changed the rules of the game, the
old lies were exposed, and the crude reality was sometimes shocking. In the new
era of transition from socialism to capitalism, very few people knew how to quickly
find the right solutions and to foresee the dangers. However, for the sector of public
utilities (drinking water companies included), despite the aforementioned problems,
opportunities were identified more easily than in other fields [19]. Maybe because
the market for drinking water facilities was solid, clients waiting for quality services
at low prices. Nevertheless, local water operators/companies had to adapt themselves
in order to survive, following the principles of economic efficiency. Success models
from abroad were available as a reference, and the problems of the sector were
relatively easy to spot out.
In this context, in 1991 under the authority of Cluj County Council, the Cluj
County Water and Sewage Company (RAJAC) was founded. At that moment, the
drinking water network had 412 km of pipes, with 18,782 connections to clients,
delivering up to 3.1 m
3 of water per second for about 400,000 inhabitants, with a
60,300 m
3 storage capacity in water tanks [17].
The main concern was to identify the imperative investment needs that would
lead to an increased quality of the services provided. Thus, with funding from local
sources, some important works were completed, such as:
– supplying the drinking water demand by extending the water treatment station
capacity by adding a supplementary filtration stage, a new 1000 l/s clarifier and
also extending the micro-screening stage, between 1992 and 1996;
C. Bacotiu et al.
6.2 Opportunities After 1990
In 1990, the legacy of the totalitarian regime became obvious in the field of drinking
water systems. Under the grip of Ceau¸ sescu, Romania’s main objective was to repay
the external debt as soon as possible. Therefore the decade 1980–1990 was dominated
by various “strange” rules and restrictions concerning quality investments in the
infrastructure. Every equipment or material had to be made by the national industry
(as cheap as possible), and imports were forbidden. As an example, cast iron was
considered an “energy-intensive” material and was massively substituted by asbestos
cement for the new drinking water pipes (which later proved to be a health hazard
and banned in many countries).
Therefore, at the end of 1989, the situation was challenging: out-of-date and
obsolete equipment (the effect of “savings”), an old drinking water supply network
(with some 100 years old pipes), substantial water losses, no general metering.
It is necessary to point out that in the centralized command economy, there was
no inflation (this concept was not officially acceptable), all prices were controlled by
the government, so water was very cheap. This was not a bad thing per se, but had
a dangerous side-effect at that time: almost nobody was seriously concerned about
water losses, metering or wasting water. Anyway, the official reports about water
losses were carefully “prepared”, and the Party leaders said that Romania is going
steadfast to the communism…
Then, in December 1989 the Revolution has changed the rules of the game, the
old lies were exposed, and the crude reality was sometimes shocking. In the new
era of transition from socialism to capitalism, very few people knew how to quickly
find the right solutions and to foresee the dangers. However, for the sector of public
utilities (drinking water companies included), despite the aforementioned problems,
opportunities were identified more easily than in other fields [19]. Maybe because
the market for drinking water facilities was solid, clients waiting for quality services
at low prices. Nevertheless, local water operators/companies had to adapt themselves
in order to survive, following the principles of economic efficiency. Success models
from abroad were available as a reference, and the problems of the sector were
relatively easy to spot out.
In this context, in 1991 under the authority of Cluj County Council, the Cluj
County Water and Sewage Company (RAJAC) was founded. At that moment, the
drinking water network had 412 km of pipes, with 18,782 connections to clients,
delivering up to 3.1 m
3 of water per second for about 400,000 inhabitants, with a
60,300 m
3 storage capacity in water tanks [17].
The main concern was to identify the imperative investment needs that would
lead to an increased quality of the services provided. Thus, with funding from local
sources, some important works were completed, such as:
– supplying the drinking water demand by extending the water treatment station
capacity by adding a supplementary filtration stage, a new 1000 l/s clarifier and
also extending the micro-screening stage, between 1992 and 1996;