English Version - United Nations Development Programme Romania

Criteria for evaluating options for the stabilisation of green house gas releases
The potential impact of green house gas releases
Cost-benefit ratio
Direct economic impact, measured by:
1.) Growth of labour force use in Romania
2.) Decrease of imports
Harmonisation of the National Strategy and the Action Plan for protecting the environment
1.) Decrease of the amount of released air pollutants
2.) Efficiency in reducing other types of environmental impacts
Potential efficiency of the option implementation policies
Sustainability of options
Harmonisation with Romania’s sustainable development strategy
Availability of basic data necessary for the evaluation
1.) Technological needs
2.) Cost of implementation programs
4.2 Water resources
As a resource, water is necessary to any life form and in any socio-economic activity and its
management is an important branch of the national economy. Unlike other resources, water is
irreplaceable and it is permanently renewed in a natural process, the natural water cycle.
The quantity and quality of water resources is a determining factor that affects the general
development of the national economy and of the territorial management process.
4.2.1 Characteristics of water resources
A relatively dense hydrographic network covers Romania and almost its entire area (97,8%) is
contained in the Danube basin, with the exception of some rivers in Dobrogea, which flow directly into
the Black Sea.
Romania's water resources are made up of surface (interior rivers, natural and artificial lakes, the
Danube) and subterranean waters. In Table 4.2 different types of water resources are given, according to
the average flow on the inner rivers and the Danube, relative to the physical and geographical situation of
various hydrographic basins as well as the theoretical and practical systematisation.
The Black Sea water resources are not taken into consideration for the moment, due to technical
and economical difficulties related to the desalination process.
The principal water resource in Romania consists of the interior rivers, 4864 in total, with an
overall length of 78.905 km. In an average hydrological year, 40 billion cubic meters of water flow
through these rivers. Out of the total average surface waters, 99,8% flow into the Danube and only 0,2%
into the Black Sea.
A basic characteristic of this type of resource is the variable relation between flow volume and
surface area:
In the mountain areas, which account for half of the total flow volume, only 17% of the country's area
may be found.
The average hydrographic flow rates vary from less than 1 l/s and square km in the lower regions of
the Romanian Plain, in most of Dobrogea, the Siret Plain, the south-western part of the Timis and
Arad Plains, to 1,5 l/s and square km in the greatest part of the Romanian Plains including the Oltenia
Plain, the hilly region of Oltenia and Muntenia, the Transylvania plateau, the Somes Plateau, the
greater part of Moldavia and the grassland area in the west, to 40 l/s and square km in the high areas
of the Fagaras and Retezat Mountains.
Water Resources
Table 4.2
Resource Category
Theoretical resource,
Billion m 3
Technically usable,
billion m 3
Technically usable
resources under the
present conditions,
billion m³
25