ASSESSMENT OF SOILS POLLUTED WITH HEAVY METALS FROM EMISSIONS FROM THE ROVINARI STEAM POWER PLANT

The counties of Romania most affected by excavations are: Gorj with 10 368 ha, Valcea with 1985 ha, and Mehedin.i with 2537 ha. The area actually affected by mining in the Oltenia mining area is 17 254 ha, out of which 13 390 ha affected by above-ground mining activities (dumps, quarries, micro-quarries) and 3867 ha affected by underground mining activities. Reinsertion of the terrains in the productive circuit is needed through ecologic reconstruction so that they become fit for agricultural, forestry or other productive activities in economically efficient conditions. Soil samples were collected from 40 sites in 8 radial directions from the steam power plant and heavy metals contents were analysed in order to assess the effects of the emissions proceeded from the Rovinari steam power plant and from the ash dumps dispersion. The sampling points were placed 1.5 km apart in each direction up to the 7.5 km distance from the steam power plant. The aim was to assess of the influence of emissions and dumps upon soil characteristics and its loading with heavy metals. Heavy metal contents determined in 2017 were lower than those determined in 2000 for all the elements. The analyses of the coefficients of maximum normal contents exceeding revealed that Zn, Pb, and Ni were the only metals with local outruns of the alert coefficient.