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A state-of-the-art facility helps officials detect floods in time to help
Monitoring and Testing Water
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Photo: USAID/Jay Sorensen
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Villagers run to safety during the 2005 floods in Romania.
After two years in a row when heavy rains overflowed the Danube River along Romania’s borders with Serbia and Bulgaria, it was evident that flood management was a top priority.
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The detailed map covers the entire wall in the conference center with its well-marked dams, rivers, and tributaries. Computers hum all around. This center in Pitesti, Romania is where water and pollution specialists gather each day, trying to improve Romania’s water systems. They also work to reduce pollution, build a strong flood warning and response system, and upgrade and extend the country’s water infrastructure. USAID has invested some $20 million over 14 years in these efforts.
The hydrological monitoring system monitors gauges for 70 rivers and a dozen lakes. The project is changing a complicated, decentralized process – in which each municipality detects rising water levels and develops a response – into a simple, effective methodology. Now all monitoring is centralized and officials know a flood may come days in advance. This gives them time to evacuate citizens and respond to rising water levels by diverging tributaries or diverting water elsewhere.
USAID provided the project with alarm systems at river gauging pilot sites and helped establish rapid response centers outfitted with a truck, helicopter, and state-of-the-art communications equipment. The project also trained all relevant parties in water disaster response management, from the monitoring staff to local government officials and first responders.
After two years in a row when heavy rains overflowed the Danube River along Romania’s borders with Serbia and Bulgaria, it was evident that flood management was a top priority.
At the same time, the country also identified a serious need for reducing pollution in water and improving sewage treatment. In 2000, drinking water in Bucharest was so dirty that most consumers used bottled water. USAID has helped clean up Romanian water by training water specialists in various pollution testing techniques and providing equipment to help them perform those tests. The testing site outside of Pitesti is the first water testing lab ever certified in Romania. In 2007, the European Union will take on that project with an investment of $40 million, ensuring that USAID’s work continues to have an impact long after Romania joins the EU.
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