NITRATE POLLUTION OF WATER IN ROMANIA SERBIA CROSS - BORDER AREA AS A CONSEQUECE OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES

Many farmers apply nitrogen as fertilizer's or manures to their crops. Nitrogen applied trough fertilizers or manure is converted to plant available nitrate by bacteria living in the soil. Nitrate nitrogen not taken up by. crops or immobilized by bacteria into soil organic matter or converted to atmospheric gases by denitrification can leach out of the root zone and possibly end up in groundwater. A numbers of rivers cross the border countries, originating from Romania and flowing into the Danube River in Serbia. In this border counties groundwater level is high, thus nitrates that were initially lost through leaching to groundwater can contribute to the nitrate pollution of surface water such are rivers and likes. Water pollution by nitrates has been made worse. by the introduction.of intensive farming methods, with increased use of chemical fertilizers and higher concentrations of animals in smaller areas. In accordance with European Union Directive 75/440/EEC, groundwater can't contain more than 50 mg/1 nitrates. We monitored surface water samples from ten localities placed in the cross-border area Romania-Serbia with an intense-agricultural practice. The localities included in the monitoring program are located in Timis and Bega Rivers basin. In order to have a correct appreciation of the water nitrate level, from each locality were collected three water samples from different places. After the samples preparation for nitrate determination (according to the international standards), they were measured with a spectrophotometer at Wavelength of 550 nm. This paper presents the results of the study on groundwater and slit-face water nitrate pollution in Romanian- Serbian border area in order to designate specific vulnerable zones and for applying measures set out in the codes of good agricultural practice for nitrate pollution prevention.