The Agro-Eco-System Of An Area Equipped With Irrigation Facilities – Case Study: Brăila Terrace

The paper attempts to make a quantitative and qualitative analysis of processes and phenomena determined by the interference of natural and human ecosystems, in the context of the sustainable development of the rural communities located in the area covered by the irrigation system of Brăila Terrace from the county Brăila. The methodology used is based upon the analysis and synthesis of information regarding the natural resources, as well as on the diagnosis analysis of the economic and social processes and phenomena from the rural communities located in an area equipped with irrigation facilities. The statistical data were completed with the information provided by studies and articles addressing the same subject. Located in the North Bărăgan Plain, in the eastern part of Romania, the irrigation system Brăila Terrace covers a total area (designed and executed in the period 1969–1972) of 67,500 ha, out of which the net agricultural land area (recognized as public utility) totals 40,993 ha, and the net agricultural area for which subsidies are received totals 33,208 ha (only if the water supply demand implies the irrigation of at least 20% of a served consolidated area). The Danube is the water resource that feeds the irrigation system with a water flow of 53.24 m³/s, representing about 2.7% of the minimum multi-annual water flow with a probability to ensure 97% and 0.9% of the multi-annual average flow. The water comes from the Danube and it corresponds to the STAS 9450/88 standards for the irrigation water. The higher mineralization of water from the desiccation system reveals the impact of agro-chemical substances on the water collected in the perimeter of the irrigation system Brăila Terrace. The obtained results allow us to consider that the future development of the rural communities located in the area covered by the irrigation system Brăila Terrace represents the direct effect of using the potential provided by the local resources. Through the hydro-melioration and irrigation measures, the terrestrial habitat consists of agricultural crops and domestic animals, and the modifications produced in the structure of ecological systems are made for the purpose of local biodiversity preservation and responsibility towards people.