Increasing drinking water access and wastewater management for North-Western Romania to European standards.
To improve public sanitation services , Romania has undertaken significant steps towards increasing access to clean drinking water and improving the management of wastewater collection, treatment and discharge.
The regional water company “Compania de Apa Somes” is responsible for water and wastewater infrastructure in the expanding urban and rural communities of Cluj and Salaj counties in northwestern Romania.
In Cluj and Salaj, the connection rate for drinking water in 2016 was 79 % (65 % when considering compliance with quality parameters). For wastewater, the connection rate was 91% for communities with a population above 10,000 but only 37% for smaller communities with a population between 2,000 and 10,000 inhabitants.
To improve the water supply and wastewater collection infrastructure, Compania de Apa Somes awarded a project to a consortium comprised of EPMC Consulting, Compania de Consultanta si Asistenta Tehnica and Egis to develop and modernise the existing infrastructure. Egis’ key role has been to coordinate the design activities throughout the entire project’s definition and implementation.
The main challenge of the project was to find optimum solutions to connect a very disperse population to the public sanitation system taking into account the large distances, rough terrain, multiple stakeholders, existing urban planning and environmentally sensitive areas all within the financial constraints.
