I grew up in Romania in the 1970s, at a time when the creeks and rivers of my home region still ran freely, shaped by their own rhythms rather than by concrete and steel. As a child, I played along their banks and learned their curves by heart. By the 1980s, those same waters were being straightened and encased in concrete in the name of flood protection. In the 1990s, plastic began to collect where reeds and stones once slowed the current. The 2000s brought large-scale exploitation, and today many of these rivers are simply drying out. Watching this slow, cumulative destruction unfold over a lifetime is what first drew me to water – not as an abstract policy issue, but as a living system under siege. By Hans Hedrich.
Rivers under pressure
Romania, even after joining the EU in 2007, still seems to treat its waters primarily as an economic resource to exploit and, at the same time, as a threat to control. The obsession with straightening, concreting, and diking rivers persists, while waterways face invasive construction, plastic pollution, untreated wastewater, mining legacies, illegal hydropower in protected areas, deforestation, and the growing impacts of climate change.
Fast-forward to 2025: I learnt that the European Commission is pursuing an aggressive and accelerating deregulation agenda. Under the pretext of “emergencies” and competitiveness, environmental safeguards are being fast-tracked out, scrutiny and public participation sidelined, and policymaking increasingly shaped by the very industries driving ecological harm. Romania’s water crisis is not happening despite EU policy, but within a framework that is weakening protections.
Photo credit: Peter Lengyel
Unsurprisingly, public debate in Romania is dominated by headlines like: “The Minister of Energy encourages energy companies to file SLAPP lawsuits against organisations opposing illegal hydropower projects!”; “Carpets of plastic waste were carried by floodwaters across the border into Hungary” (2021); “Abandoned mines are gravely harming people’s health and poisoning rivers” (2022); “Hundreds of employees of the Romania Water Administration (ANAR) received bonuses for EU funded projects that were never carried out” (2025). Only rarely do we see: “Renaturation project in the Carasuhat area (Danube Delta) completed” (2015).
Reasons for hope
And yet, at the local level, more and more initiatives are giving reason for hope. In November and December 2025, I visited several of them, speaking with people across the country who are quietly reshaping how water is understood and protected.
In Cluj, activists like Adrian Dohotaru are driving plans for a green-blue corridor and other nature-based solutions along the Someș River while coordinating the national Network for Urban Nature. In the Niraj / Nyárád valley, Zoltán Hajdú’s early work restoring creeks and ponds is finally gaining recognition.
Near Odorhei / Székelyudvarhely, Szilvia Bencze is working with farmers to build small ponds that help restore drinking water for households and livestock. In Reghin, architect Klaus Birthler has reintegrated a former mill canal into the urban fabric, showing how nature can be brought back into city life.
Photo credit: Peter Lengyel
In Bucharest, Reper21 has mobilised attention through its “Rehydrating Romania” conference, while Văcărești Natural Park stands as a powerful symbol of nature’s return. At the same time, new efforts are underway to reconnect the Dâmbovița River with the city.
In Galați, Ionuț Procop has developed a boat to collect waste from the Danube. In Constanța, Cosmin Barzan has spent years working across borders with volunteers to protect the Black Sea, reduce pollution, and confront desertification in the southeast.
People are taking action to restore rivers and aquatic ecosystems across the country – and this is progress that we must not only celebrate, but build on.
People and nature uniting
In these efforts, a broader shift begins to emerge: a new relationship between people, water, and nature, based on coexistence rather than control. In many parts of Eastern Europe, this way of thinking is not new, but deeply rooted and now being rediscovered.
But this fragile shift will not survive on goodwill alone. It needs protection, vigilance, and strong laws. At a time when powerful interests push to treat water as a resource to exploit, and disinformation undermines environmental protections, the stakes are rising.
The foundation must be the full defence and implementation of the Water Framework Directive. It is not abstract policy, but the safeguard that turns care into accountability and ensures that these local efforts can endure and grow into a more resilient future.
As pressure on Romania’s waters intensifies, a new momentum is building. Environmental organisations are not only reacting, but joining forces and rethinking water protection through collaboration.
From 6 to 8 March, that energy came together in a networking meeting that sparked the early formation of a new coalition. While similar initiatives have existed before, there is a growing sense that this time could be different, with the potential for a lasting alliance to reshape how water is valued and protected.
This article is an opinion piece, written by Hans Hedrich, Focus Eco Center, (EEB member organisation, Romania).