The quality of underwater supplies in western Romania

Abstract

Over the last three decades, many scientist, national and international agencies were concerned about pollution of the Romanian environment, especially water and its impact on human health. This research includes studies and interpretations resulting from chemical and bacteriological analyzes of water samples collected from wells or underground springs from central north-western part of Romania. The water parameters were determined using standard analytical methods: pH, turbidity, oxidability, ammonium, nitrates, nitrites, chlorides, total hardness, conductivity, mesophilic heterotrophic microorganisms, coliforms, E. coli, intestinal enterococci. Regarding non-compliant samples, the main problem is the bacterial load of water, confirming domestic pollution sources of water. More than 50% of the analyzed samples, which had concentrations of nitrate over 10 mg/L were also found bacteriological inappropriate.