Evaluation of groundwater contamination and protection measures in a rural area

Clean drinking water plays a very important role in the health of a community. Providing safe drinking water to the people has been a major challenge for Romanian Government in order to achieve the goal of accession into the EU by 2007. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the chemical contamination of groundwater in a rural region from Cluj County, Romania. Samples of water from twenty wells uniform distributed in the whole study area were analyzed for metals and anions concentration. The results revealed high level of nitrates as well as concentrations of lead, cadmium, iron, zinc and copper above of the safety limit in some wells. This situation may have health risks to the local population. Implementation of groundwater protection measures in this area is necessary to prevent contamination by substances hazardous to human health.