The over 200 million euros regional project for the development of water and sewage networks in far eastern Tulcea county, whose financing contract was signed at the end of 2022, began with the works to expand the networks in the municipality, the water treatment plant in the city of Sulina, a heritage objective built in year 1860 by the queen of the Netherlands, to be extended.

According to the managing director of the regional operator of water and sewage services Aquaserv SA, Valentin Ifrim, the works that will be carried out concern both the water and sewage networks, as well as the establishment or modernization of drinking water treatment plants (STAP) and water purification plants (SEA).

Referring to the problems that arise in the municipality of Tulcea after every torrential rain due to the rainwater that gathers in some areas, Valentin Ifrim stated that, just like in many other localities in the country, the wastewater collection network coincides with the rainwater network, which makes it difficult to collect torrential water.

The current sewage network is from 1960, added Ifrim, and went on saying that “all these stations have undergone significant modernization works, including the Sulina station, a heritage site built in 1860 by the Queen of Holland, it being known that in that period the European Commission of the Danube hosted by Sulina gathered representatives from all over Europe. All the buildings in the treatment plant have been rehabilitated according to what existed at the beginning”.

Upon historical documents, the cities of Tulcea and Sulina have had STAP with ozone-based technologies since the second half of the 19th century, most likely with the support of international authorities.

Within the current modernisation project, in 20 localities in the county, 273,296 kilometers of drinking water networks will be extended and rehabilitated, 17 STAPs will be built, seven more STAPs will be rehabilitated, and another three will be expanded. Moreover, in ten localities of the county, 148.28 kilometers of wastewater collection networks will be extended and rehabilitated, two SEAs will be rehabilitated, five others will be expanded, two SEAs will be built.

The estimated total value of this project is 222,115,490 euros without VAT, of which 114,508,514 euros for the water supply system and 107,606,976 euros for the sewage system.

Established on the basis of the Paris Treaty of 1856, the European Commission of the Danube had headquarters in the Danube ports of Galati and Sulina and established the navigation rules and river policy on the Sulina arm for decades. During the existence of this entity, in the city of Sulina, the first electric generator was brought from the United States of America for the Palace of the Commission, its gardens and the port quay, the first telephone line between the ports of Sulina and Galati was inaugurated, the streets were paved, apparently the first sewage network, and the Queen of the Netherlands financed the construction works of a water plant. In Sulina, there were then seven consulates and 20 vice-consulates or consular agencies, warehouses of the grain exchange and about 18 foreign shipping lines.

Implicitly, Tulcea also developed during that period, ship owners building homes or developing businesses in the port city on the Danube, water-barrel sellers (the people who sold drinking water) being replaced by drinking water networks in the first part of the 20th century.