Chapter 3: THE NATURAL CAPITAL
3.1.
Nature Reserves
In Baia Mare there are 4 nature reserves on the basis of Law 5/2000,
stretching over an overall area of 556 hectares, that is 2.4 % of the
total surface of the city (the national average value is 5.18%).
3.2. Protected
Century-Old Trees
There are isolated century-old trees (14 pieces) and 19 groups of trees
with ages between 150 and 450 years, and that have been declared monuments
of nature according to the Decision of the County Council no. 37/1994.
The majority of the protected trees are in the Baia Mare Municipal Park,
but there are also several groups or isolated trees especially in the
old part of the city.
3.3 The Forest
Vegetation
The forest area around Baia Mare city is of 17,860.5 hectares (76,83%
of the total surface of the city). As compared to the percentage of
the forestry areas at the county level, (41,74%) and at the national
level (26,7%), Baia Mare represents an area with a rich forestry potential.
The local dominant species of tree is the beech tree (72%); there are
also the spruce fir (12%), the evergreen oak (5%), the hornbeam (3%),
various strong essences (6%) and several resinous trees (2%). The annual
average of wood that can be collected from the forests is 38,954 cubic
metres; over the past ten years only 34,206 cubic metres have been collected
yearly, which determined an accumulation of standing timber by feet.
The phytosanitary condition of the forests is good, the drying of the
oak tree reached a peak between 1984 - 1985 and after that it has started
to drop, reaching a very low level at present (under 5%).
Other forest products for the Baia Mare area are (annual figures): bitter
cherries (20 tons), plums (15 tons), hipberries (2 tons), cornels (1
ton), blackberries (14 tons), raspberries (16 tons), blueberries (4
tons), edible chestnuts (30 tone), edible mushrooms (22 tons), medicinal
herbs (2 tons), forest seeds (2 tons).
3.4. Protected
Flora and Fauna
The protected flora in the Baia Mare region is represented by: the yew
tree, the mottled tulip, the daffodil, the sedge, the sky dew, the edible
chestnut, the wild service tree, the ginkgo, the magnolia, the wooden
species being contained in protected areas or declared monuments of
nature.
The protected fauna is represented by 10 species: the raven, the swallow,
the common buzzard, the red jackdaw, the forest eagle owl, the lynx,
the Carpathian bear, the Carpathian stag, the roebuck and the wolf.
3.5. Green spaces
and public parks
The built-in area is of 2,063 hectares. The green areas in Baia Mare
total about 280 ha, out of which 80 hectares make up the public domain,
which is administrated by the Public Urban Environment Service, and
200 ha represent private property.
The average ratio per inhabitant is about 18.6 square metres, and the
average ratio of public space per inhabitant is 5.3 square metres. The
average value is low as compared to the urban average value at the national
level (around 7.5 square metres) and significantly below the European
standards (30-40 square metres / inhabitant). With respect to the sanitary
norms (2-2.2 square metres/inhabitant, excluding the public parks),
the ration of green areas for general use in the city of Baia Mare is
3.8 square metres / inhabitant.
The leisure areas are the artificial lakes Bodi Ferneziu and Strâmtori-Firiza
and the Firiza, Blidari, Valea Neagra and Usuroiu Valleys.
Poll returns show that the public preferences for leisure areas are
the following: the Municipal Park 23%, museums, cultural attractions
13%, leisure areas 3%.
3.6. Mineral and Therapeutical Water Springs
There are 5 mineral and therapeutical water (Valea Borcutului, Baile
Usturoiu, Izvor Baraj Firiza, Apa Sarata, Creanga) mainly ferruginous,
bicarbonated and chlorosodical, the potential of the underground resources
of mineral and therapeutical waters being currently under-exploited.
3.7. Air
Sources of atmospheric pollution
The quality of the atmosphere in the city of Baia Mare is affected by
industrial and urban pollutants reaching levels that exceed the limits
for the protection of the recipients: population, natural and artificial
environment.
The major industrial pollutants are the two plants for non-ferrous metallurgy:
S.C. RBG PHOENIX S.A. - production of primary copper and S.C. ROMPLUMB
S.A. Firiza - primary lead production. The position of the two plants
within the urban perimeter, in the eastern and north-eastern areas (the
Firiza Valley) on the dominant wind courses and with reduced dispersion
possibilities of the pollutants (poor air circulation, atmospheric calmness
and frequent thermic inversions) generated by the topography of the
area (depression) determines high levels of pollution with specific
noxas in the entire area of Baia Mare city. This situation is aggravated
by fugitive emissions at the ground level from both plants.
The most important urban sources affecting the quality of the air are
the traffic and the burning of natural gases (individual systems and
boiler houses) necessary to the heating of residential, institutional
and industrial areas as well as the emissions from the municipal waste
landfill.
The major air pollutants due to the traffic are; fuel combustion, soot,
motor-vehicle exhaust (sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides), particulate
matter and lead.
Air quality
According to the main indicators analysed by the Inspectorate for the
Environmental Protection of Baia Mare, the quality of the air (year
2000) is the following:
|
Indicator
|
Frecventa de depasire anuala a valorii maxime admise (%) |
Valoarea
maxima de depasire a concentratiei maxime admise
(de .... ori) |
| Sulphur Dioxide |
1
|
1,1
|
| Azote Dioxide |
3
|
2,7
|
| Ammonia |
5
|
2,8
|
| Suspended particles |
3
|
3,1
|
| Lead |
18,8
|
4,7
|
| Cadmium |
36,5
|
8,3
|
| Settled particles |
1,5
|
-
|
| Acid rains |
5,8
|
-
|
3.8. Surface and Subterranean Waters
A. Drinking Water
The drinking (1.35 cubic metres/s) and industrial (0.85 cubic metres/s)
water supply of Baia Mare is provided by the Strâmtori-Firiza
reservoir, with a volume of 13.92 million cubic metres. As it is located
within a small hydrographic basin, the accumulation Strâmtori-Firiza
is extremely sensitive to a poor pluviometric regime and causes problems
as to the water supply of Baia Mare city every year.
The quality of the lake water generally falls under the 1st category
of STAS 4706/1988 for surface waters that are to be used in the preparation
of drinking water, except for the total ionic iron indicator, whose
concentration exceeds the maximum admissible limit.
The Runcu reservoir is being built (13% up to now). It will result in
an accumulation of a total volume of 26 million cubic metres and will
ensure the transition of an important water quantity from the Mara hydrographic
basin to Firiza hydrographic basin.
The drinking water supply in Baia Mare by type:
|
Total
population
|
Coupling
of the building
|
Yard
pump
|
Street
pump
|
|
150.506
|
100.077
|
507
|
2
|
B. Municipal
and Industrial Waters
The main sources of wastewater of the Maramures county come from:
- Mining activities - acid mine water and waters resulting from ore preparation;
- Industrial activities of non-ferrous ore processing;
- Municipal and social activities - municipal waste waters.
The geographical
position of the Baia Mare city allows the collection and transport of
municipal, industrial and rain wastewater towards the Wastewater Gravity
Treatment Plant. The sewerage system is 185 km long.
The municipal wastewater result from:
- population 67% (565 l/sec)
- industry 33% (280 l/sec)
The Treatment Plant
for municipal wastewater is located in the western part of the city
and comprises two treatment steps: the mechanical step, with a capacity
of 1,900 l/sec, and the biological step, with a capacity of 1,350 l/sec
and with a sufficient overall capacity of treatment of the current flow
of municipal wastewater.
The industrial wastewater discharged into the surface waters comes from
the mining industry and metallurgy.
The non-ferrous ore exploitation and preparation industry and the metallurgical
industry are the local specific industrial pollutants:
- S.C. RGB Phoenix Baia Mare in the Sasar River: suspensions, As, Cu;
- S.C. ROMPLUMB S.A. Baia Mare in the Firiza River: suspensions, Mn, Fe;
- E.M. Baia Sprie, E.M. Herja, U.P. Flotatia Centrala, E.M. Aurum, U.P. Sasar: heavy metal ions and acid waters.
Surface water quality
The Sasar River is chemically degraded downstream to Baia Sprie up to
the junction with the Lapus River along 19 km due to upstream wastewater
discharge resulted from the mining and metallurgical industry. The daily
evolution of the quality of the Sasar River is the following:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Firiza River, upstream EM Herja, falls under the 1st quality category of surface waters, as well as the Firiza Lake and its superior tributaries.
C. The subterranean
water control is carried out by two drillings. Between 1997-2000
exceeding values were recorded for NH4, Mn and Fe, the most frequent
exceeding values occurring in the spring.
There are drillings in the industrial areas (RBG Phoenix and SC Romplumb
SA), highly polluted with heavy metals.
3.9. The Soil
and Subsoil
The quality of the soil is affected by both anthropic sources and natural
causes. The main polluting sources are the non-ferrous metallurgy and
the extraction and preparation of non-ferrous ore.
The major pollutants in the Baia Mare area are RBG Phoenix S.A., S.C.
Romplumb, the levigation ponds of the plants situated in this perimeter,
the dumps of mine rocks resulted from the exploitation activities, the
mine waters discharged from the existing galleries in the area. The
indicators pointed to high concentrations of several heavy metals in
the soil of these areas.
There are various levels of pollution in different areas: areas affected
by the polluting sources, where the reference values for the heavy metals
are exceeded in line with the majority of the analysed samples versus
areas situated outside the reach of the polluting sources, where the
analysed indicators are under the admissible limits or exceed them sporadically.
According to the evaluations performed for the 30 cm depth in the analysed
area, there are 5 compact degraded areas:
|
No
|
Polluting source
|
Affected
area
|
Soil
span affected above the admissible limits (km2)
|
Degraded
soil span (km2)
|
| 1 | Meda
Pond |
Meda-Sasar area |
34,50
|
12,28
|
| 2 | Historical pollution | Valea Rosie area |
7,22
|
2,24
|
| 3 | RBG Phoenix | Plant area |
9,07
|
1,97
|
| 4 | SC Romplumb SA | Plant area |
4,12
|
0,94
|
| 5 | E.M. Herja | Junction of the Firiza River with Herja Brook |
2,19
|
1,06
|
According to the agrochemical soil analysis, approximately 75-80% of the arable land is represented by soils with acid reaction (pH less than 5.8), which necessitate calcium treatments. The supply level of mobile phosphorous and total azote is 90%, i.e. low and very low. The supply with mobile potassium is low (70%) and average (30%). The calcium and the magnesium lack completely from the absorbant complex, and are substituted by hydrogen and aluminium (toxic substances for plants).