Groundwater Resources from Eastern Romania under Human and Climatic Pressure

Ionuț Minea, Marina Iosub and Daniel Boicu
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Ionuț Minea: Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, 700505 Iasi, Romania
Marina Iosub: Integrated Center of Environmental Science Studies in the North Eastern Region—CERNESIM, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, 700505 Iasi, Romania
Daniel Boicu: Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, 700505 Iasi, Romania

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-16

Abstract: Groundwater resources from a region may be subject to complex human and climatic pressure. The present study tries to analyze the human and climatic pressure on the groundwater resources from the eastern part of Romania, between 1983 and 2017, for seven groundwater bodies. Two parameters, the groundwater exploitation index (GWEI) and the Standardized Groundwater Index (SGI) for identifying hydrogeological droughts, were used to assess human and climatic pressure. The high values of GWEI show a significant increase in human pressure on water resources in recent decades, in lower and more populated areas, from the south and north part of de region, amid increasing investment in agriculture. In the case of climate pressure, the SGI values show significant values for the years 1983, 2000, 2007, and 2012. However, the overlap of hydrogeological droughts with an increase in human pressure can have a significant impact on the groundwater resources from this region, with negative effects in the mid and long term, under the growing effects of the regional climate changes.

Keywords: groundwater level; groundwater exploitation index; standardized groundwater index; Eastern Romania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:24:p:10341-:d:460189

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