2.2. Waters
2.2.1. Sources and pollution level
Both the number and magnitude of pollution sources of the natural waters in the Republic of
Moldova decreased, comparing to the 1980s and the early 1990s. However, the main sources of
pollution remained the same: municipal waste water treatment plants; agriculture; livestock
raising; runoff waters from residential areas and industrial sites; non-sewered population,
communal dump sites. A particular major transboundary pollution source is the hydropower
station at Novodnestrovsk (Ukraine), which caused drastic changes of the temperature regime of
the Dniester river within the Republic of Moldova and, consequently, heavily impacted the
natural river ecosystems.
Only some of the point sources of pollution, mentioned above, are monitored (mainly the waste
water treatment plants).
Fig. 2.6. Number of water users and issued
water use permits
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
2002
1996
1992
1995
1982
1994
0
Irrigation
1993
500
Domestic use
1992
322
1000
Abstracted
water
Industrial use
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1991
1500
Users that were
issued a permit
million m3
1012
2000
1021
1690
2500
1990
Users that must
obtain a permit
2577
3000
2636
According to the current legislation, the water users must operate according to requirements set
in the water use permits. Those stipulate the volume of water that can be used and set limit
values for the discharge of pollutants contained in the waste water. During the last decade, the
number of water users decreased dramatically, following the general drop in economic activity
(see fig. 2.6).
Fig. 2.7. Data on water use
The volume of abstracted water was continuously decreasing (to 918 million m3 in 2001), due to
lower demand from the industrial sector and quasi complete cessation of irrigation (fig. 2.7).
Consequently, the amount of waste water also decreased. In 2001, 753 million m3 of wastewater
were discharged to the receiving water bodies, including 569 million m3 of cooling water from
the Dnestrovsk power station and 207 million m3 of domestic and industrial waste waters from
municipal wastewater treatment plants (fig. 2.8). The latter decreased two-fold comparing to
1990. Despite the general reduction of wastewater discharges to the surface waters, the discharge
limit values for main pollutants were, per total, exceeded
The total volume of treated wastewater discharged into the three main rivers, namely Dniester,
Prut and Bic, amounted to 149.4 million m3 (fig. 2.9). Comparing to 1990, the discharge into the
above rivers has been reduced 1.7, 3.9 and 1.6 times, respectively.
3000
300
Total wastewater
Adequately treated
Treated in WWTPs
r. Prut
250
2000
million m3
million m3
2500
r. Dniester
1500
1000
r. Bic
200
150
100
500
50
00
0
19
90
19
91
19
92
19
93
19
94
19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
98
19
96
19
94
19
92
19
19
90
0
Fig. 2.8. General data on wastewater
discharges
Fig. 2.9. Volume of treated wastewater
discharged into the surface waters
Basing on water users’ reports, one can estimate that the discharges of biodegradable substances,
suspended solids, oil products, ammonium and phenols decreased considerably during the last
years. For example, the total amount of organic pollutants (characterised by BOD) discharged to
river Dniester and river Bic was under the admissible level while in river Prut the requirements
were exceeded due to discharges from poorly working wastewater treatment plant in Ungheni in
1999-2001 (fig. 2.10).
The same picture can be noticed for suspended solids (fig. 2.11).
r. Dniester
r. Prut
r. Bic
DLV
r. Dniester
8
7
5
4
3
2
1
19
90
19
91
19
92
19
93
19
94
19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
0
Index
Index
6
r. Prut
r. Bic
DLV
4,5
4
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Fig. 2.11. Discharge of suspended solids to the
surface waters
Fig. 2.10. Pollution of the main rivers with
biodegradable matter (BOD)
The amount of oil products discharged into the Dniester and Bic rivers continuously decreased
since 1994 but still does not meet the existing requirements (fig. 2.12). A similar situation can be
noticed for ammonium discharges to the rivers Dniester and Prut. The ammonium pollution
index (discharged de-facto/discharge limit) for river Bic shows a pollution level exceeding the
admissible value (fig. 2.13). The same is valid for phenol discharges to the Dniester and Bic
rivers (fig. 2.14). Data for river Prut are not available.
r. Dniester
r. Bic
25
r. Prut
DLV
r. Dniester
r. Bic
7
r. Prut
DLV
6
20
Index
Index
5
15
4
3
2
10
1
20
01
20
00
19
99
19
98
19
97
19
94
19
93
19
92
19
90
20
01
20
00
19
99
19
98
19
97
19
94
19
93
19
92
19
91
19
90
0
19
91
0
5
Fig. 2.12. Discharge of oil products into the
surface waters
Fig. 2.13. Discharge of ammonium into the
surface waters
r. Dniester
r. Bic
DLV
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
700
600
WWTP<400
500
WWTP>400
400
300
200
100
Fig. 2.14. Discharges of phenols into the
surface waters
02
01
20
00
20
99
20
19
98
19
97
19
96
90
19
19
20
00
19
98
19
94
0
19
92
19
90
Index
By the 1990s, approximately 580 biologic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been
constructed in Moldova. According to the inventory undertaken by the State Ecological
Inspectorate in 2001, only 330 are physically available, the rest of them were destroyed. Out of
these, only 106 WWTPs are in operation (fig. 2.15). They are located as follows: 57 in the
Dniester basin, 25 in the Prut basin, 15 in the catchment area of the Danube lakes and 9 in the
Black Sea basin. Due to poor laboratory capacity of the regional environmental authorities
(Territorial Ecological Agencies, ATE) the discharges from many of the WWTPs could not be
properly monitored (fig. 2.16).
Fig. 2.15. Number of WWTPs in operation
120
Index
WWTPs
100
11
40
6
8
10
57
50
20
15
8
7
3
ATE
Gagauzia
9
ATE
Tighina
ATE
Chisinau
ATE
Soroca
13
5
ATE Orhei
11
0
AME
Chisinau
20
50
SE
Taraclia
27
ATE Cahul
45
100
54
ATE
Ungheni
80
100
ATE Balti
40
100
ATE
Lapusna
60
ATE
Edinet
Procente
80
Fig. 2.16. Index of analytical control of WWTPs operation in 2002
In 2002, only 57 out of 106 operating WWTPs have undergone laboratory checks of their
effluent quality and in only 36 cases the impact of the effluents on the receiving water bodies
have been estimated.
Groundwater
The pollution of groundwater with nitrogen compounds is a growing concern in Moldova. Deep
groundwater layers often show a high content of ammonia while shallow groundwater is
increasingly polluted with nitrate. It is not unusual to find in many shallow wells concentrations
of nitrate of hundreds of mg/l. Both natural and anthropogenic factors are at the origin of this
situation.
A major source of pollution with nitrogen is land fertilization. From the total amount of applied
fertilizer, the plants uptake does usually not exceed 15-20%. As a result of denitrification
processes in soil, an other part of the nitrogen is eliminated into the atmosphere in gaseous form.
Generally, between 7 and 60% of the total nitrogen fertilizers is lost in gaseous form; the plants
capture between 22 and 55% of nitrogen while the losses through runoff and infiltration may be
in the range of 1-20%. Less than 1-5% of nitrogen is retained in the aeration zone. The amount
of nitrate going into the shallow groundwater depends on the composition and thickness of the
filtration layer.
An other major source of groundwater pollution with nitrate is human and livestock waste.