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Abstract:

Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is located on the banks of Dambovita River, tributary of Arges River, which, in its turn, flows into the Danube, the second longest river in Europe. Until 2011, Bucharest wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) had no advanced treatment, and since the end of 2011 the plant is able to treat half of the incoming flow. The second upgrading phase is under construction. This paper presents monitoring data of Dambovita River, upstream and downstream from Bucharest WWTP, during the period 2010-2015. Annual means of main nutrients concentrations show that water quality was mostly in the first class before the WWTP, according to Romanian norms, and in the worst class downstream from the WWTP, particularly for ammonium and total phosphorus, which are indicators of sewerage pollution. Pollution is attenuated by dilution after confluence with the Arges River. Principal Component Analysis and factor analysis of monitoring data show the differences between sampling locations and strong positive correlations between ammonium, orthophosphates and total phosphorus. Nutrient pollution downstream from Bucharest has decreased after 2010, but more efforts to improve wastewater treatment are needed in order to comply with national and international regulations.