Water quality monitoring at distribution and discharge in areas with activities of agro-food interest

Clean water resources are limited by the continuous growth of public and technological consumption, which is largely generated by agro-industrial activities. This study is focused on the comparative analysis of the quality of potable water at distribution and wastewater at discharge in areas with a major impact on local agro-food production and processing. The research was carried out during the year 2021 in areas with commercial agro-industrial units representing six large areas and 13 small drinking water management areas. Based on the data reported by the County Directorate of Public Health, we analysed the quality of potable water distributed in these areas, by correlating six basic microbiological parameters. In parallel, we also evaluated the evolution of the wastewater quality at discharge within the local treatment plants analysing the test reports, developed by authorised laboratories in the field. The tests were carried out using standardised methods, and the obtained data were the basis for quantifying the degree of compliance and the effectiveness of the measures imposed by the authorities in the field. When we monitored the quality of potable water, we discovered that the majority of the tested samples were within the legal limits. In the areas of the Mures basin administration, exceedances of these standards were recorded extremely rarely, and the share of noncompliant tests was very low (0.25%), due to exceedances in the cases of E. coli, coliform bacteria, and enterococci. Comparatively, in the large and small areas of the Covasna basin administration, more frequent exceedances of the allowed values were recorded, and the higher proportion of non-compliant tests (8.17%) was due to exceedances in all 5 evaluated microbiological parameters. We did not find evaluations of the microbiological parameters; the test reports referred only to a few physicochemical indices, of which residual chlorine at the end of the network, ammonium, and suspended matter were more frequent. We present arguments regarding the polluting action of agro-zootechnical and food industry activities on surface waters, as well as the need for microbiological testing of wastewater at discharge.