Treasure in the deep of Dobrogea. Discovery confirms ancient Herodotus theory
November 13th, 2011 |
Silistea, Constanta County. There’s terrible draught and the villagers start thinking of the underground river that their grandparents were talking about. Some of them wanted to confirm that this is more than just a story and started drilling. With 2,000 Euro. Gheorghe Popa showed everybody that he is not crazy.
But what is that water underground? It could be the fourth arm of the Danube, lost under the sand of Dobrogea, as Herodotus used to think in ancient times.
As early as in the 1960s, hydrologists tried to establish the quality and quantity of Dobrogea’s underground water, by experimental drilling. The last project lasted 24 months and was conducted together with Bulgarian researchers. So nowadays, it is known how much of the story is legend and what is actually true.
Dobrogea has not one, but two huge reserves of underground water. One in the north, going 100 meters deep. The second is in the south and appeared in the Jurassic period. It comes from Bulgaria, where it crosses 200 km, and goes on for 80 more in our underground.
A small part of this 90 million year old reserve is supplying water to 48 localities in Constanta County. The water is without chloride and nitrites and has a perfect balance of calcium, magnesium and iron.
The reserve could be used at times of draught to irrigate crops, since the local irrigation system is in ruin and parts of it have been stolen. But researchers say this would be a wrong move.
“It has to be preserved for future generations. It doesn’t evaporate,” said scientist Rodica Macale. Meaning that once the extraction begins, the balance breaks. An almost impossible choice. Do we save agriculture or keep the ace up our sleeve, given the imminent water crisis on global level?
Posted in Tourist in Romania (english)