Assessing the Transboundary Water Pollution Possibly Produced By an Armed Conflict

¹ National Institute for Research and Development in Environmental Protection, 294 Splaiul Independenţei Blv, 060031, Bucharest, Romania
² Faculty of Biotechnical Systems Engineering, The National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest – Splaiul Independenţei 313, District 6, Bucharest 060042 Romania
³ Sustainable Environment Research Group, Centre of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech), Universiti Malaysia Perlis Arau 02600 Perlis, Malaysia.

^* Corresponding author: alex19hara@gmail.com

Abstract

The impact of armed conflicts can be direct and indirect, highlighted by population displacement and casualties, infrastructure destruction, together with social and economic hiatus, but also the movement of air, water and soil pollutants across regional and national borders. There are numerous possible contamination sources of the water bodies and aquatic ecosystems that may appear during armed conflicts, including projectile composition, use of chemical weapons, discharge of untreated wastewater due to damage to sewage lines or wastewater treatment plants, unregulated waste management (improper disposal of industrial, hospital and municipal waste), oil spills, and deliberate poisoning of water resources. Thus, a comprehensive study from a multidisciplinary perspective of the armed conflicts is a sine qua non condition. In accordance, to properly assess the effects of pollution in the study area (Black Sea and coastal area) and to establish further strategies that can hinder the impact, water samples from various points of interest were analyzed to determine the water quality of the aquatic ecosystem and to possibly identify contaminants in the analyzed water bodies. Higher concentration values were observed for Pb in MB3 (27.9 μg/L) and Zn in MB1 (232 μg/L) and MB2 (53.1 μg/L), exceeding the maximum concentration limits set by the national legislation (10 μg/L for Pb and 50 μg/L for Zn).