Chapter 7
The Vulnerability of Water Resources
from Eastern Romania to Anthropic
Impact and Climate Change
Ionut , Minea
Abstract The regional and local strategies of the past decade have attempted to
introduce the principles of sustainable development, which would allow Romania
to both meet economic demands and face increasingly pronounced climate change.
With a surface of 20,569 km
2 and a population of 2.2 million, the eastern part of the
country, spread between the rivers Siret and Prut and sharing borders with the Ukraine
(to the north) and the Republic of Moldova (to the east). All the region is classified
as vulnerable from an economic and social point of view, but also as far as the
impact of climate change upon water resources is concerned. Anthropic activities
and climate change are triggering the modification of the hydrological regime (in
both quantity and quality) and an increase in the severity of issues associated with
water bodies shared with other countries (such as the river Prut, which acts as the
border between Romania and the Republic of Moldova), thus rendering an already
overexploited resource even more vulnerable. The conclusions of scientific analyses
aimed at assessing the effects of climate change upon water resources allow an
evaluation of their degree of vulnerability in the face of irreversible challenges.
The trend toward phenomena such as global warming, evaluated for the region at
0.2–0.3 °C for the last 50 years, together with an increase in the frequency of extreme
temperature values and precipitation volumes emphasize the degree of vulnerability
of water resources to current climate change.
Keywords Anthropic impact · Climate change · Eastern Romania · Vulnerability ·
Water resources
7.1 Introduction
Water sources may be rendered vulnerable through both natural and anthropic mechanisms, which interfere in the hydrological cycle, modifying the natural regime of
the water volumes of aquatic bodies. The anthropic mechanisms which lead to water
I. Minea (B)
Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University
of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
e-mail: ionutminea1979@yahoo.com
© 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_7
229
The Vulnerability of Water Resources
from Eastern Romania to Anthropic
Impact and Climate Change
Ionut , Minea
Abstract The regional and local strategies of the past decade have attempted to
introduce the principles of sustainable development, which would allow Romania
to both meet economic demands and face increasingly pronounced climate change.
With a surface of 20,569 km
2 and a population of 2.2 million, the eastern part of the
country, spread between the rivers Siret and Prut and sharing borders with the Ukraine
(to the north) and the Republic of Moldova (to the east). All the region is classified
as vulnerable from an economic and social point of view, but also as far as the
impact of climate change upon water resources is concerned. Anthropic activities
and climate change are triggering the modification of the hydrological regime (in
both quantity and quality) and an increase in the severity of issues associated with
water bodies shared with other countries (such as the river Prut, which acts as the
border between Romania and the Republic of Moldova), thus rendering an already
overexploited resource even more vulnerable. The conclusions of scientific analyses
aimed at assessing the effects of climate change upon water resources allow an
evaluation of their degree of vulnerability in the face of irreversible challenges.
The trend toward phenomena such as global warming, evaluated for the region at
0.2–0.3 °C for the last 50 years, together with an increase in the frequency of extreme
temperature values and precipitation volumes emphasize the degree of vulnerability
of water resources to current climate change.
Keywords Anthropic impact · Climate change · Eastern Romania · Vulnerability ·
Water resources
7.1 Introduction
Water sources may be rendered vulnerable through both natural and anthropic mechanisms, which interfere in the hydrological cycle, modifying the natural regime of
the water volumes of aquatic bodies. The anthropic mechanisms which lead to water
I. Minea (B)
Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University
of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
e-mail: ionutminea1979@yahoo.com
© 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_7
229