Water supplies – a worrying situation

Drought is affecting agricultural crops in Romania and water is turning scarce

România Internațional, 25.07.2022, 14:00

In Romania, a country with few functional irrigation systems,
agriculture is largely dependent on the weather. Pedological drought, which
means a low reserve of water in the soil, is destroying hectares of crops again
this year, bringing farmers to the brink of bankruptcy. The situation has been confirmed
by the Director of the National Meteorological Administration, Elena Mateescu.
In an interview for the Agerpres agency, she says that, this summer, Romania is
going through a period in which the precipitation deficit is significant, and
the situation is very unlikely to change, which will certainly make this
agricultural year one of the driest in history.

According to specialist estimates, the most affected crops are corn and
sunflower, while Moldova (east) is the region most seriously affected by the
extreme pedological drought, with the lowest amount of precipitation in
history, 322.6 liters per square meter this year. In addition, several counties
in the south have announced that there is no water left for irrigation because
the level of the Danube has dropped significantly. The Ministry of Agriculture
says that the area affected by pedological drought, where harvesting has been
completed, has increased to approximately 70,000 hectares in 14 counties, and a
damage assessment is underway.

However, the Minister of Agriculture, Petre Daea, claims that at this moment there is no need to declare a state of calamity due to the drought. He also says that the projects developed and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture have focused on three main objectives. Petre Daea:

The first objective is to build the pumping stations, to equip them
with modern, automatic equipment, which would consume less electricity. We then need to clean the drainage sections
of the canals in such a way that the water goes smoothly to the pressurization
stations. And the third objective is to waterproof the canals.

Irrigation is not the only problem; providing water to the population has also become an
issue. As a result of the severe drought lately, water has been rationalized in
several localities in the south and east of Romania, and authorities are still
looking for solutions to ensure the population’s consumption needs.

And
the weather doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. After a weekend with temperatures that reached 40 degrees Celsius, but
also with storms and powerful winds that uprooted trees and destroyed roofs,
Romania started a new hot week. Meteorologists say that most of the country will be under yellow
and orange code warnings at least until Thursday.

Maximum temperatures of up to 40 degrees are forecast again for Tuesday,
especially in the western and southern regions. Against the background of this
big heat wave, the Ministry of Health has published on its website several
recommendation for the population. (MI)