VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE OF THE URBAN DRINKING WATER SYSTEM IN THE CITY OF BACAU, ROMANIA

Vulnerabilities of urban water infrastructure and services affect environmental performance and life quality (including health). This study is part of a comprehensive framework aiming to implement practices that respond simultaneously to the basic needs of prevention, mitigation and the long-term adapting process to the risks posed by natural hazards and the socio-economic change in order to attain sustainable urban development. Starting from the hypothesis that there are different rhythms between the social economic dynamics of the city and its capacity to adapt and innovate public infrastructure utilities, the present paper analyses the relation between the types of piping materials and the drinking water quality related to its importance for the city's population. In February 2015, 35 drinking water samples were collected from different consumption points and tested in order to determine the content of soluble forms of heavy metals and other elements using ICP-MS equipment. The results were processed using basic statistical analysis in order to establish correlations among analyzed variables. Secondly, GIS was used in order to visualize and highlight the spatial relation between water quality, the type of pipes and the number of users. The study concludes that, in our specific case study, the material of the pipes has a limited influence on the quality of the drinking water, while water supply pipes inside the residential buildings may be responsible, to a higher extent, of the values exceeding the maximum allowed limits, which finally affects vulnerable population.