IDENTIFICATION OF THE IMPACT OF THE CONSTRUCTION AND FUNCTIONING OF MICROHIDROCENTRALS FROM BUDA AND CAPRA.

The construction of small hydro power plants is a solution for obtaining cheap electric energy, but it also has a negligible impact on the environment. What raises serious problems is the location of some of these micro-hydropower plants, including the Buda and Capra brooks, as well as their way of execution. Valea Argesului area on the upper course, is recognized for its biodiversity and landscape heritage value. Changes to vegetation through abusive deforestation, biodiversity reduction by habitat segmentation and riverbed alteration (slope changes, deviation and even obstruction of the watercourse, water loading with sediment and implicitly reduced oxygen) lead to severe changes in the natural environment, impact being devastating. Once destroyed, the natural environment can be rehabilitated ecologically but never returned to its original form. Therefore, it can be said that any transformation is irreversible and with many, often unknown, consequences on the ecosystem. The fauna may have the most to suffer. Vibrations and noise pollution remove animals, and in terms of fish fauna, this, given the conditions, becomes almost nonexistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]