​At a time when extreme weather events have intensified, Romania appears to be fully exposed to the risk of flooding. The Accounts Chamber’s report shows a catastrophic situation: hundreds of dams without permits and owners, dams in deep disrepair, equipment over 100 years old and an acute shortage of personnel. All this threatens people’s lives and can cause significant material damage.

In Romania, the capacity of flood protection infrastructure has suffered significantly, according to the report of the Chamber of Accounts.

Out of the total number of 2013 dams that existed in Romania in 2021, less than half, i.e. only 983, were authorized to operate under safe conditions.

221 dams have expired operating permits, and 809 of them were never permitted.

In addition, another 121 dams remain derelict, with little or no known legal owner or manager, and are at risk of failure.

In Romania, there is no expert to evaluate dams

Romania’s National Water Administration (ANAR) manages 9,391 kilometers of dams, but they do not have an operating permit issued by the Ministry of the Environment because there is no one to assess them.

“Until now, no expert has been certified to assess the state of operational safety of flood dams, regardless of the importance category,” the auditors say.

As such, the condition of the levees is not precisely known, and whether or not they are effective in the face of flooding, although some sectors of the levees are reported to be in a deep state of degradation.

Violations were also found in the capital’s anti-flood system

For flood protection in the city of Bucharest, only a partial system was designed and implemented, including the non-permanent Dragomirești Reservoir (the useful volume of which was reduced by widening the ring road to a highway profile from 2 to 4 lanes). ), Lake Morij and the natural polder of Giulești Sârbi, an area that was partially filled with various materials in the meantime.

In addition, Opera and Hashdeu bridges were improperly built on the Dambovitsa River. Therefore, if Lacul Morii and Dragomireşti reservoir were filled, the urban channel of the river Dâmbovița could not accept the flood, with its current capacity.

“Any pressure on the Planșeu Unirii bridge could cause social and economic damage that is difficult to estimate, affecting construction networks and surface and underground transport in the central part of the capital,” the report said.

Bucharest: housing built in the lake basin

The accounting court found violations at several reservoirs, which are supposed to protect the capital from floods.

For example, the Lacul Morii Reservoir Dam has not undergone any major maintenance/repair work since 2008, although since 2018 it has been reported that the perimeter drainage system is not functioning properly, which can lead to incidents of rising water levels.

Buftea Dam has had only scheduled maintenance in its 85 years of continuous operation, although strong earthquakes such as 1977 and 1986 and five major floods have passed through the dam.

As for Lake Pantelimon, the drainage system has not been completed on the right bank, the lock has not been completed and equipped, and there are private properties and houses in the lake basin.

The same is true of Lake Fundeni. There, the situation of the Ostriv microdistrict is known, where there are houses built below the limit of exploitation.

ANAR equipment is over 100 years old

Reasons for which there is a threat of flooding:

• felling and using forests without observing the rules of forestry;
• failure to use flood risk maps in urban planning;
• issuing permits for construction/unauthorized construction in the floodplains of watercourses;
• destruction/non-maintenance of flood protection structures;
• expansion of properties in watercourses and narrowing of their drainage area;
• carrying out works in the channels of watercourses and bringing them to their initial parameters (slope, drainage area);
• construction of bridges/bridges with inappropriate crossings;
• clogging of watercourses with garbage or forestry waste;
• the absence of a modern system of alerting and alarming the population with full coverage of populated areas;
• insufficient provision of emergency services.

Lack of specialists is also a big risk. For example, at the ANAR level, more than half (58%) of the personnel who have to work in the field are over 50 years old.

In addition, ANAR staff also work with very old equipment, some of which is over 100 years old and dates back to the period 1914-1934.

Also, the Accounting Chamber summed up the results of the floods of 2014-2021: 17 people died, more than 8,700 people were evacuated, more than 36,000 houses and farm buildings were flooded, and 1,500 cultural objects were damaged.

Material losses amounted to 8.847 billion lei, and the total amounts provided by the government from the intervention fund or from the reserve fund exceeded 3 billion lei.