166 million Euros for water infrastructure in Romania

In a press release  dated March 30, the European Commission announced new funding for Romania of 166 million Euros which allows the construction and improvement of various infrastructures to continue.

In particular, these are 9 wastewater treatment plants, 761 km of sewers, an expansion of about 1000 km of the water network, 40 new water basins, and various modernisation and maintenance works on existing infrastructure.

All these infrastructures are part of two larger projects: one that concerns wastewater treatment and the other that concerns water supply in general.

All of this takes place in the broader context of the Cohesion Fund , an effective instrument of the European Union's cohesion policy which provides financial support in particular for projects for the improvement of the trans-European transport network and for investments in the environmental field.

The fund finances projects in those European Union countries where gross national income (GNI) per capita is less than 90% of the EU average, including Romania.

The projects involve 4 counties of southern Romania, located in the area south and south-east of Bucharest, between the Romanian capital and the Danube – Călărași, Giurgiu, Ialomița, and Ilfov (the latter surrounds the capital without including it).

The objective of this intervention programme on the Romanian water network is clearly to improve water quality, increase the possibility of accessing drinking water, and limit waste in the network.

The basic idea is to ensure that Romania complies with EU directives on the quality of drinking water and the treatment of urban wastewater.

In the words of the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, these projects have a fundamental role for this area of the EU, in which it will be possible to "improve the quality and availability of water, reducing the risk of disease in people and improving their quality of life”.

Another crucial point stressed by Commissioner Ferreira is that improving the water network and therefore reducing water waste naturally leads to a benefit for the whole ecosystem, not just for the Romanian citizens of the area in question.

The Commission notes that these projects are part of a larger plan to refurbish Romania's entire water network.

For a complete picture of the projects funded by the European Union in all member countries, the Commission recommends consulting the Kohesio  platform.