The project updated the drinking water and waste water collection and treatment services throughout Romania’s Sud-Vest Oltenia region, thus providing nearly the entire population with a safe source of quality drinking water.
- 20 December 2017
With the aim of providing residents of Romania’s Sud-Vest Oltenia region with a reliable source of clean drinking water, the project updated the area’s drinking and waste water collection infrastructure. As a result, the 138 220 residents of Mehedinti County area now have access to clean drinking water and also enjoy an improved quality of life and health. Furthermore, pollution in the area has significantly dropped, benefiting the environment surrounding the townships of Drobeta Turnu Severin, Strehaia, Vinju Mare, Baia de Arama, Simian, Gura Vaii, Cujmir, Braniste and Comande.
A new infrastructure
As part of its efforts to update the county’s drinking water supply system, the project constructed and built 9.31 km of the main pipes used to transport treated water. It also rehabilitated eight water storage reservoirs, extended the distribution network by 154.97 km and built eight new chlorination units within the distribution system. Other work included the completion of a supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA) and the modernisation of Baia de Arama’s drinking water treatment plant.
In terms of updating the county’s water supply systems, the project rehabilitated and extended seven water sources. To ensure the waste water collection and treatment systems reached more residents, the project extended the sewage network by 137.28 km. It also rehabilitated 8.52 km of the existing network. Other work included the rehabilitation and construction of 33 wastewater pumping stations, the modernisation of Drobeta Turna Severin’s wastewater treatment plant, and the building of new wastewater treatment plants in Strehaia, Cujmir and Gura Vaii.
Together, these efforts have resulted in 99.6 % of the population in the project area having a direct connection to the drinking water network and access to quality drinking water.
Ongoing work
This project completes phase II of an ongoing effort to improve Mehedinti County’s water infrastructure. During phase I, which ran during the 2007 – 2013 programming period, around one third of the updates were implemented. With the completion of phase II, 51 % of all scheduled work is now complete, with the remaining work expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
Located in the southwest of Romania, Mehedinti County borders Serbia and Bulgaria. As a heavily agricultural area, the county has been historically rural – thus leaving many residents unconnected to urban water sources. But once the total project is complete, all citizens will benefit from an improved quality of life, safer and more accessible drinking water and a better protected environment.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Extension and modernisation of water supply and waste water treatment systems in Mehedinți County - Phase II” is EUR 59 707 311, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 39 063 395 through the “Large Infrastructure” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period.