The issue of waste in Vedea Valley

Made by student: Mitroi Alexandru, 16 years old, National College "Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica", Alexandria city, Teleorman county, Romania.
Coordonating teacher: Ruscu Nicolae

The issue of waste in Vedea Valley

Student: Codrut Ruscu, 16 years old, National College "Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica", Alexandria city, Teleorman county, Romania.

Coordinator teacher: Nicolae Ruscu

  

Valea râului Vedea la Alexandria

Deşeurile din vale

Deşeurile din vale

Animalele pasc printre gunoaiele de pe Valea Vedea

O groapă de gunoi improvizată

Estetica gunoiului

Estetica gunoiului

Verde crud, nealterat de deşeuri, pe Valea Vedea

Valea Vedea

The issue of waste in Vedea Valley

Student: Mitroi Andrei, 18 years old, National College "Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica", Alexandria city, Teleorman county, Romania.
Coordinator teacher: Nicolae Ruscu

  

Geographically, Vedea river stems from the Getic Plateau (Romania) and has a length of 224 km , an average slope of 2% and an area of the drainage basin of ​​5430 km ². The average altitude of the river is 166 m ( in the Alexandria area is 40-50 m ) and theaverage  discharge is 2.15 m / s.
    Vedea Valley is the main green area near the Alexandria city, Teleorman county. It is a green oasis, a place of recreation and relaxation for city inhabitants . Unfortunately, nowadays, it has become, more and more, a place of landfilling. Citizens of the city, who haven’t obey the law, without the commun sens of nature, throw from their carts and trucks, the most various types of  wasting – such as construction materials, garbage, manure, etc. .
Beyond the purely aesthetic point of view, it is also an environmental issue: harmful substances , resulting from the decomposition of waste, are draining into the soil and into the river, endangering the health of city residents, whose households are located only a few tens (or hundreds) of meters from Vedea Valley. Main responsibles for the quality of the environment,  from mayor’s office, said, however, that "these issues are monitored continuously", but in fact, no action has been taken .
 Solutions ?! I would propose something to the local authorities:
1. Carefully monitoring of the area by public guards and by the Guard Environment.
2. Strict enforcement of legislation on waste disposal, especially various fines to those who are guilty of such offenses.
3.  Popularization of the problem in the local media .
4. Installation of surveillance video cameras in the area.
5. Collection of  the existing waste by the authorities.
6. Declaring a day of Vedea Valley, possibly  during the special  week named "Differently school" when local students can participate together to the ecological activities in the area.
7. Students involved in " Eco Patrol " to photograph people who throw illegal waste .

 Geografic, râul Vedea izvorăşte din zona Podişului Getic (Platforma Cotmeana) şi are o lungime de 224 km, o pantă medie de 2% şi o suprafaţă a bazinului hidrografic de 5430 km pătraţi. Altitudinea medie a râului este de 166 m ( în zona Alexandria este de 40-50 m) iar debitul este de 2,15 m.c./s

    Valea râului Vedea este principala zonă verde din preajma municipiului Alexandria, Judeţul Teleorman. Este o adevărată oază verde, loc de agrement si relaxare pentru locuitorii oraşului. Din păcate, în ultimii ani, a devenit, tot mai mult, şi loc de depozitare a deşeurilor. Cetăţeni ai municipiului, certaţi cu legea, cu natura şi cu bunul simţ, aruncă din căruţe şi camioane, cele mai variate tipri de deşeuri – provenite din construcţii, gunoi menajer, gunoi de grajd etc.

Dincolo de aspectul strict estetic, este vorba şi de o problemă de mediu: substanţele nocive, rezultate în urma descompunerea gunoaielor, se scurg în sol şi în apa râului, punând în pericol chiar sănătatea locuitorilor oraşului, ale căror gospodării sunt situate în apropiere, la doar câteva zeci (sau sute) de metri.   Principalii responsabili din domeniul calităţii mediului înconjurător au declarat, însă, că “aceste deversări sunt monitorizate în permanenţă”, însă practic, până în prezent, nu s-a luat nicio măsură.

 Soluţii?! Aş propune câteva autorităţilor locale:

-         monitorizarea atentă a zonei de către gardienii publici  şi Garda de Mediu.

-         aplicarea cu stricteţe a legislaţiei privind depozitarea deşeurilor, mai ales sancţionarea cu amenzi a celor ce se fac vinovaţi de aceste fapte.

-         popularizarea acestei probleme în media locală.

-         instalarea unor camere video de supraveghere a zonei.

-         colectarea deşeurilor existente de către autorităţi, în speţă, Primăria Alexandria.

-         declararea unei zile a Văii Vedea, eventual în săptămâna “Şcoala altfel”, în care elevii din localitate să participe, împreună, la ecologizarea zonei.

-         elevii implicaţi în  “Patrula Eco” să fotografieze persoanele ce aruncă deşeuri ilegal.

Colegiul "Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica" - Alexandria, Premiul Special la Parada Europei 2013

Elevii Colegiului "Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica", din Alexandria, au reuşit să obţină mult râvnitul trofeu - Premiul Special, la Parada Europei, desfăşurată  în 11.05.2013, la Zimnicea.
Elevii noştri au reprezentat exemplar Statele Unite ale Americii iar premiul constă într-o excursie în această ţară. Urmăriţi prestaţia de excepţie a elevilor noştri!

The issue of waste storage in Alexandria

Alexandria municipal-city, the capital of Teleorman county is faced with a big enviromental  issue , caused by the disposal of household waste. Unfortunately nowadays in our town the waste is disposed on a so said garbage platform.

Short history

The piece of land on wich the platform is located belongs to the town hall. Since 1965 the refuse has been colected from the streets and from the industrial factories and throwed there.The garbage disposal was done without taking in consideration special measures requesting environmental protection.The platform occupies a total surface of 2 ha, the valley on which the storage began was fully covered and was eventually filled to the capacity of 300000 cubic metres and the estimated volume of stored garbage being estimated at cca 200000 cubic metres(2006)in a 40 years running time, the platform has never had a schedule and has never seen organised:

-The disposal was controlled by the town’s sanitation or economical agencies which were supported by the Town Hall. Apart from that,the disposal was unchecked by economical agencies and individuals.

-The platform is not protected properly.

-The staff consists of 3 employees.

The trash is dumped into the platform forming a pile. This action is usually done unorganised, using a bulldozer.  The waste product is only ocasionally covered by inert material when there is a surplus of garbage.

The general descrisption  of the location

The municipal waste storage platform owned by Alexandria’s Townhall  is being attributed the following services: gathering, transportation, storing and tratment of the garbage, with form of public property(100%) and a 8 hours/day, 5 days/week schedule, and with a maximum of 300 working days/year it is situated based on the main activities within the framework of the general, economical and social administration.

                The platform designed for the storing of household refuse is situated in Teleorman county, on the left bank of Vedea River and the East of Alexandria, just as it results from his plan.

                Storehouse’s immediate  vecinity:

                                -Nort- agricultural fields;

                                -East-agricultural fields;

                                -West- Vedea River’s main river bed;

                                -South- agricultural fields.

                The positioning of the platform that took place 40 years ago, in a valley which was later filled with garbage,  was never preceded by a geological and geotechnical examination of the area. The site occupies a valley orientated from NV to SE which is composed of chernozemic soil over which were laid filling layers consisting of chernozemic soils, dusty loams and other materials resulted from constructions and waste.

The topography of the location is very steady, unaffected by any physical-geological phenomenons. It is known for its natural-anthropogenic environment and it has a plane-horizontal surface,  bounded to the west by the Vedea river.

The area where the platform is located has a meadow vegetation, with high chances of anthropogenical transformation of the vegetal and animal world, which consists of the agricultural crops and the steppe zone, strongly modified by the anthropogenical development, the bioceonosis consisting of a reduced number of species.

The fauna is especially represented by rodents, birds, insects and mammals adapted to the anthropogenical conditions.

We specify the existence of some neighborhoods whose activity may interfere with the analyzed objective regarding the impact on the environment.

-          The water treatment plant of Alexandria ( 1 km distance)

-          The industrial area of Alexandria ( 3 km distance)

-          The residential area of Alexandria  (1,7 km distance)

-          The rural commune Poroschia  (3,7 km  distance)

-          The petrol storage stations (2 km distance)

Consequences on the environment

The main impact and risk forms determined by the city and industrial garbage warehouses, in the order they are perceived by the the population, so there are:

1. landscape modification and visual disconfort.

2.air polution.

3.polution of the surface and underground waters( air polution with unpleasant smell and suspensions led by the wind is very obvious in the area of actual city warehouses).

4.modification of soil fertilities and biocenoses compositions on the neighbouthood lands.

5.the participation to the generating of the greenhouse effect and of the climate modifications , by garbage burning.

6.getting aut of the natural or economical circuit of some lands.

7.the polution of the surface waters ( the flowing down the warehouse hills, being situated in the neighbourhood of the surface rivers contributes to the polution of them with organic substances and suspensions.

8.the polution of the underground waters ( non waterproofed warehouses of city garbage are often the source of underground water infestations with nitrat and nitrit but also with other poluting elements.

The composition of the garbage in Alexandria

Hârtie, carton %	Sticlă %	Metale %	Plastice %	Lemn %	Materiale organice %	Altele %	Total
4	3.3	2.3	6.7	2	73	8.7	100 %

The average composition of the garbage in Alexandria.

Paper-4%, glass 3.3%, metals -2.3%, plastic 6.6%, wood-2%, organic materials-73%, others- 8.7%

It can be noticed from diagram and from  the table that in the structure of the garbage are dominating in percentage of 73%.

Solution

We consider that the solution for the garbage warehouse will be done only by the responsible involment of the local authorities , the firm apply of the law in this field and the development of the project iniated by the Teleorman County Commitee ’’ Integrated sistem of garbage management in the county of Teleorman’’, which has the integrated environment agreement nr.9/31 .The project is financed  within the ISPA  programme of UE and it stipulates:

-The total value of the investment is 21514000 euro.

-The achievement of a county ecological warehouse having a total capacity of 2 850.000mc.

-Total surface 28ha.

-The amount of garbage collected per day-291tons/day.

-The warehouse is made of 4 cells occuring on a surface of 20ha.

-Compostation station according to the warehouse has the capacity of 25 tons/day.

-Selection capacity for the recycle garbage -25 tons/day.

-Functioning length-30 years.

-The closing of the 97 existing warehouses .

-The achievement of a transit platform for every village.

-Transport capacities from vilages to the ecological warehouse.

               

Alexandria's waste isssue

Problem of landfill in Alexandria town

City of Alexandria, Teleorman County capital, has a serious environmental problem linked to the problem of waste disposal. Unfortunately, at present, in our city, waste is stored in a so-called landfill.

 Solution

We believe that solving the problem of disposal of domestic waste will be responsible only with the involvement of local authorities, the firm enforcement of legislation in this area and the project initiated by the County Council Teleorman, "Integrated waste management system in Teleorman" . The project provides:
- The total investment EUR 21514000;
- Creation of a county landfill with a total capacity of 2.85 million cubic meters;
- Amount of household waste collected about 291t/zi = 106 305 t / year;
- Selection of recyclable waste capacity = 25 tonnes / day;
- Life expentancy 30 years