DETERMINING AMMONIum and nitrate pollution of the olt river BASIn in Rm. Valcea industrial area

Claudia Sandru, Elena David, Raluca Popescu, Roxana Ionete^*

National Institute for Research and Development for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies - ICIT Rm. Valcea,

Uzinei Street no. 4, P.O. Box Raureni 7, 240050, Ramnicu Valcea, Romania

ABSTRACT

Surface water is an important source of water in many parts of the world. Agriculture constitutes the largest user of the resource, consuming about 70% of all freshwater supplies on a global scale. The quality of surface water is sensitive to the contaminants originated from industrial and agricultural chemicals. This work aims to investigate the levels of ammonium and nitrates in the Olt River Basin, waters that supplies the industrial area of Rm. Valcea town. The water samples were collected during 4 consecutive months, from November 2012 to February 2013, the chemical parameters studied ranging between 7.3 mg/l and 43.9 mg/l for nitrates and, respectively, from 0.02 mg/l to 2.56 mg/l for ammonium. There are high nitrate concentrations in the entire basin indicating pollution, higher in the agricultural area than in the industrial part. Olt River and the industrial waters have higher ammonium concentrations than Olt tributaries. The chemical characteristics of these samples enable to establish the water quality and to classify them in the appropriate quality standard. Considering that the levels of both species in the surface water are high, future continuous monitoring of their respective levels is required.

Keywords: nitrogen species, pollution, river basin, surface water.