CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ANTHROPIC ROMANIAN LAKES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Liliana ZAHARIA, Ileana PĂTRU
Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania zaharialil@yahoo.com

Abstract

In Romania there are over 2100 artificial lakes, which hold about 13 billions m3 of water and cover about 1.9% of the surface of the country. This study refers to the most important of these lakes, whose volumes are over 1 billion m3 and highlights their functionalities and their impact on the environment, at the level of the main relief units. Out of the 406 lakes analyzed, half are situated in the plain region, a quarter in the hill and plateau area and 17% in the Carpathian area. As far as their functionality is concerned, most of them (40%) have complex functions, these functions being followed by those of fishery (20%), and electrical energy production (17%). The analysis made revealed significant differences among the three major relief units, concerning the morphometric characteristics of the lakes (surface, volume) and their uses. At the same time, the impact of these arrangements on the elements of the geographic environment is different from one relief unit to the next, mainly according to their dimensions and their functionalities. So, in the plain region, the negative consequences of the dam-tanks, are less significant than the positive ones, so the quality of the impact is higher than the one of the alpine and hilly regions. In the mountains, where the socio-economic advantages are very important, there are many negative effects, essentially on the natural components of the geographic environment.

Keywords: anthropic lakes, functionalities, impact, major relief units.