The Black Sea Environmental Program (BSEP) Studies revealed that 58% of the total nitrogen and
66% of the total phosphorous flowing in dissolved form into the Black Sea come from the Danube
river basin. More than half of all nutrient loads into Danube River originate from agriculture, about one
fourth from private households and about 10 - 13% from industry. Romania is the largest contributor
of nutrients to the Black Sea as its entire territory drains into the Black Sea. Total nutrient emissions
in surface water in 1994 were about 284 - 306 kilo tons nitrogen/year and 39 - 40 kilo tons
phosphorous/year. About 44% of the total nitrogen (N) input stems from agriculture, while municipal waste water
accounts for 11 - 12% and industry for 9 - 10%. In the case of phosphorous (P), the role of
agriculture is even greater, accounting for about 58% of total emissions, followed by industry
with 20.6% and municipal waste water with 11.4%. Groundwater pollution with nitrate (NO3)
and microbial organisms from agriculture has a major social significance from the point of view
of drinking water supply for rural settlements in Romania.
The Agricultural Pollution Control Project is aimed at “increasing significantly the use of
environment friendly agricultural and household practices in rural areas in order to ultimately
reduce the discharge of nutrients and other agricultural pollutants into the Danube River and
Black Sea through integrated land and water management”. For better designing an integrated intervention covering the whole national territory, a pilot
project was designed and is currently underway in Calarasi County. The selection of Calarasi
County for the pilot project purpose was based on the status of pollution in the aforementioned
county, requiring urgent solutions of alleviation. The main features characterising the local
population – predominantly aged, with a low level of education and economically relying on the
land work – constituted another reason for intervening in this county.
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