Urbanization effects on the river systems in the bucharest city region (romania)

Abstract

This article identifies and analyzes the effects of human pressures on the river systems, landscape, flow regime, and water quality in the Bucharest region, the largest urbanized area in Romania. The analyses focused on four streams crossing the Bucharest region, namely the Dâmboviţa, Colentina, Argeş, and Sabar rivers. Our approach relied especially on three types of information: (1) spatial data; (2) hydrological data sets; and (3) water quality data. We made a diachronic analysis of the available maps and ran classic statistical analysis of the data sets, as well as trend analysis. At the same time, we compared the flows in natural (reconstituted) and modified (current) regimes. The results showed that the stream system and its associated landscapes have considerably changed due to several engineering works (reservoirs, dams, channelization works, diversion canals, water intakes, etc.). Under these circumstances, the flow regime suffered changes that differed among the rivers. Thus, the multiannual discharges of the Argeş and Dâmboviţa rivers did not exhibit significant changes, but only mitigated the monthly discharge variability. In the case of Sabar and Colentina, a significant increase of the annual and monthly discharges was identified, due to the water transferred from the neighboring rivers. Water quality worsened, especially on the lower courses of the Dâmboviţa and Argeş rivers, degrading the states and health of the aquatic ecosystems in the study region.