Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag and Dacinia Crina Petrescu
Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Aquac Res Development
The present paper takes under analysis of water problems and related opportunities, revolving around two central issues: water scarcity, where the wastewater is seen as a part of the solution through its transformation into new water, clean and usable, and water contamination, where wastewater treatment becomes a business opportunity. Scientific evidence on the perceptions of water scarcity and wastewater treatment as business opportunities is based on a non-probabilistic survey. The questionnaire was applied to a sample of 150 subjects (54% industrial activity, 20% domestic, 13% tourist activity and 13% other activities) from North-Western Romania. The need for wastewater treatment was investigated considering its threefold dimension: Economic (need for water as a resource, costs reduction); ecological (environment protection) and; social (human health protection and provision of clean water). The most important purchasing criteria of a wastewater treatment micro-station declared by the subjects were: The capacity to clean the waters of all the polluting compounds; to comply with the legal standards; the system life span and; the suitability of the microstation to the amount of received wastewater. Based on statistical data, several eco-challenges and their potential implications for environmental governance, business in particular, have been identified.
Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag is an Assistant Professor and Senior Researcher at Babes-Bolyai University, Romania and PhD Supervisor at University of Liège (Agro-Bio Tech Gembloux), Belgium. She is specialist in Environmental Law and Policies. She is the author and co-author of more that eight books, 40 scientific articles and coordinator or member in over 10 research projects.
Email: malina.petrescu@ubbcluj.ro