Assessment of the environmental aspects in a city area affected by historical pollution

The paper presents the results obtained by performing specific activities aimed to assess the quality of the soil and water components (surface and groundwater) in Copsa Mica, a small town from Romania, well known for the historical pollution recorded over several decades. It is known that the contamination was induced by the
industrial activities carried out in the area, which is caused by sulfur dioxide air emissions and atmospheric particulate matters containing heavy metals, mainly cadmium, lead and zinc. The pollution of the city and the neighboring areas was mainly due to activities of two companies: SC Sometra SA (with a non-ferrous
metallurgy profile, which before 1990 was considered the largest unit in the country) and SC Carbosin SA (with a chemical profile until its closing, in 1993). The assessment of the quality level of the environmental factors was carried out in 2016 through specific activities for soil and water quality investigation - sampling and
physico-chemical analysis in R&D Institute for Industrial Ecology ECOIND laboratories, in order to highlight relevant elements of environmental quality of the above mentioned year, within a pre-established experimental field and targeting the limited area of the Copsa Mica city. As an important aspect, it is worth mentioning
that the footprint of the pollution sources is still present in the area, even long after their activity has ceased. It is estimated that a soil and water monitoring could establish a dynamics of the quality parameters in the Copsa Mica area during the subsequent periods.