Authorities in Romania, such as the Environment Ministry, the Romanian Waters, and the Prahova local water authority Exploatare Sistem Zonal Prahova, have passed responsibility to each other for the ongoing water crisis that has left over 100,000 people without clean drinking water in the counties of Prahova and Dâmboviţa, as well as schools and hospitals in the area.

Problems with the water supply in the region first started on Friday, November 5, and were generated by the decrease in the water level in the Paltinu reservoir caused by scheduled hydrotechnical works at the dam, combined with the increase in turbidity and volume of sediments caused by rain. The sediments affected the quality of raw water and imposed the interruption of the drinking water supply in 12 localities in Prahova County and one locality in Dâmboviţa County.

Experts confirmed that the crisis originated in the lack of communication between institutions, according to Digi24. 

The crisis was commented on by numerous state representatives and was used as an occasion to ask for resignations and assign blame.

The Ministry of the Environment denied that it was aware of the risk of water supply interruption in localities in Prahova and that it ignored warnings regarding the situation at Paltinu, stating that Exploatare Sistem Zonal Prahova, the institution responsible for treating and supplying water, did not report that the increased turbidity “could lead to the impossibility of treating the water and, implicitly, to the interruption of the drinking water supply.” 

Ministry representatives said that ESZ Prahova failed to report risks in several technical meetings. A

ccording to the institution, the water operator ESZ Prahova had the legal and contractual obligation to maintain minimum water reserves, to immediately report any technological limitations of the station, evaluate the impact of turbidity on the treatment process, inform the Ministry and local authorities in case of a possible interruption, and to activate alternative sources. “None of these obligations was fulfilled,” the Ministry of the Environment stated.

The institution also specified that the Decision of the Prahova County Committee for Emergency Situations of November 6 “does not warn of a risk of supply interruption due to the lowering of the water level following the works for the Paltinu reservoir, but of a risk of interruption of the drinking water supply if this work had not been carried out,” according to News.ro.

In turn, Bogdan Chiţescu, general director of Exploatare Sistem Zonal Prahova (ESZ Prahova), stated on Sunday, November 30, that the environment minister pressured the company to allow household water to circulate for bathroom use, but that he and the Public Health Directorate (DSP) opposed due to healthcare risks. Diana Buzoianu was also reprimanded by Social Democratic Party leader Sorin Grindeanu for the “chaos” in Prahova. 

President Nicuşor Dan also weighed in on the scandal on Wednesday, December 3, stating on Facebook that attacks on the incumbent environment minister Diana Buzoianu are part of the political campaign for the Bucharest mayoral elections, set to take place on December 7. 

Nevertheless, the president said, the situation is difficult and “shows how serious the consequences of the lack of proper anticipation and communication between state institutions can become.”

“The control launched to analyze the situation at Paltinu will determine who was at fault, and all those responsible must be held accountable. But beyond this evaluation, hiring for leadership positions within various state authorities must certainly be based solely on competence criteria. Even if it will be a long process, increasing the efficiency of the public administration is mandatory so that the state can fulfill its mission of serving the citizens,” Dan stated.

“We must determine who is at fault. In my opinion, although of course control authorities will assess this, the fault lies with Romanian Waters (Apele Române),” the head of state added, drawing a parallel between the situation at the Paltinu dam and the Praid Salt Mine collapse, another disaster supervised by Romanian Waters.

On Thursday, December 4, a week since the start of the water crisis, ESZ Prahova announced that it is currently waiting 3 days for the results of the microbiological analyses before distributing water to the population again. As a result, water could be delivered again by Sunday or Monday, December 7-8.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Departamentul pentru Situaţii de Urgenţă on Facebook)