ROMANIA WATER RESOURCES

The Danube River is after River Volga the second biggest in Europe with an area of 817,
000 km2 and a length of 2,778 km.
The catchment area of River Danube covers at present territories of Albania, Austria, Bosnia &
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary,
Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland,
Ukraine and the Serbia and Montenegro. Out of these 18 riparian States 13 States hold territories
in the Danube Basin bigger than 2,000 km: Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
the Czech Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, the Slovak
Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine and the Serbia and Montenegro.
The Danube River Basin District covers an area of about 823,334 km2 and includes the Danube
River Basin and the River Basins adjacent to the Black Sea that are influenced by the Danube
River. The areas of Romania (238 391 km) as riparian to the Danube River Basin District is
99% and estimation of the riparian inhabitants are round 22.3 Mio. On the 238 391 km, of the
Romanian territory there are more than 4000 rivers the watershed surface of which is larger than
10 km. The total length of these rivers exceeds 60.000 km. Water resources in Romania were
evaluated as a potential of round 136 billions cm/year, of which: round 40 billions cm/year of the
Romanian catchments, 87 billions cm/year of the Danubius (disponible for water use round. 30
billions cm.) and round 9 billions cm/year from groundwater (only 6 billions cm/year economical
usefull).
The main divide in our country is formed by the Carphatic Mountains which due to the tectonic
movements are penetrated by three important passages: Somes, Mures and Olt. In the six groups
of hydrographical systems distinguished in Romania are 11 large basins (Ujvary, Hydrography
of Romania).
FOSSIL FUELS
The late 1980s saw the rapid depletion of Romania's extensive reserves of fossil fuels, including
oil, natural gas, anthracite, brown coal, bituminous shale, and peat. These hydrocarbons are
distributed across more than 63 percent of the country's territory. The major proven oil reserves
are concentrated in the southern and eastern Carpathian foothills--particularly Prahova, Arges,
Olt, and Bacau judete, with more recent discoveries in the southern Moldavian Plateau, the
Danube Plain, and Arad judet. Despite an ambitious program of offshore exploration, begun in
1976, significant deposits in the Black Sea continental shelf had yet to be discovered as of the
late 1980s. Most of the country's natural gas deposits are found in the Transylvanian Plateau. The
Southern Carpathians and the Banat hold most of the hard coal reserves, while brown coal is
distributed more widely across the country, with major deposits in Bacau and Cluj judete, the
southeastern Carpathian foothills, and the Danube Plain.