The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has started the steps to renature some surfaces within the radius of the Murighiol and Chilia Veche communes in far eastern Tulcea County, the ecological reconstruction of wetlands being the only sustainable solution for the benefit of local communities in the context of climate change.

WWF’s project manager, Iulia Puiu, told AGERPRES that the project is in its early stages, currently investigating the regime of the lands that could be renaturated in Dunavatu de Jos and Chilia Veche.

“Climate changes and the intensity of meteorological phenomena have a strong impact on us and the wetlands. Our efforts are very important. First of all, a renatured area reduces the risk of flooding. As the frequency of rapid and large amounts of rain is getting bigger and bigger, a wet area, upstream of a locality, will only take over from that very large amount that will pour into the locality, and then it is worth, at least from the perspective of reducing the risk of floods, to continue doing this kind of projects,” said Iulia Puiu.

Referring to the renaturation of the 1,000 hectares of the Carasuhat agricultural development, Mahmudia commune, a project carried out in 2016, as a result of which, this spring, nearby agricultural lands were flooded after the dike broke, the WWF representative mentioned that the erosion process of the dike is natural, because “dikes are made of earth. Water erodes.”

WWF participated, at the end of last week, in Murighiol, at the “Film in Sat” art festival, initiated by the “Cuzin Toma-Daca eu pot, poti si tu!” cultural association, during which it supported drawing workshops for children, but also a water quality analysis workshop.

“The phosphate load is very visible. It means that the phosphate from agriculture reached the surface waters where our sample was taken (Dunavat area, – ed. n.) from. We encountered concentrations higher than 5 milligrams per liter. It is reaching the eutrophication of the waters. The recommendation from a sanitary point of view, it should come from the Directorate of Public Health, but what we can recommend is to have as many wetlands as possible, which have the role of filtering pollutants from any source,” Iulia Puiu added.

The “Film in Sat” festival was financially supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Murighiol Municipality.