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(http://www.ebrd.com/new/press rel/2006/12feb8.htm) Completion of the Glina waste treatment plant is scheduled for the end of 2013; however, as of 2008, the project is still experiencing delays.

There is some good news for the Danube River and the Black Sea: since 1997, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR,icpdr.org has worked with the Black Sea Commission - an international organization made up of Black Sea coastal nations - to establish a Joint Technical Working Group which is currently drafting guidelines (in line with EU legislation) for improving the environmental status of EU coastal waters. According to the ICPDR, the Black Sea Commission has had relative success in its efforts to reduce pollution from 49 high-priority sources on the Black Sea coast, including pollution from insufficiently treated waste water; on its website it cited "fewer, less intense algal blooms" and an increase in "total fish catches" as supporting evidence for these early successes. (http://www.icpdr.org/icpdr-pa ges/black_sea.htm)

These organizations have also partnered with the DABLAS Task Force, which coordinates activity by international lenders, and the European Commission (a complete list of partner organizations can be found on the Black Sea Commission's website, at:http://www.blacksea-commiss ion.org/ProjectsObserversPartn ers.htm).

However, until Romania's capital city - and largest municipality, with 10 percent of its population - completes the sewage treatment plant at Glina, or another treatment plant equipped to treat its sewage, the region's problem with pollution in the Danube and the Black Sea will remain not only a grave concern, but also an international embarrassment for Romania.

Learn more about this author, Miron Huhulea.
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