New Hydrological Approach for Environmental Protection and Floods Management

Abstract. Sustainable development means to protect and improve environment for future generation use. An effective protection requires action to limit global warming prevention catastrophic phenomena, such as severe floods or long-term droughts, and safeguarding people from their effects. Analyzing these phenomena evolution, the Romanian specialized institutes have adopted a new approach and developed a modern strategy, based on the latest hydrological theory available worldwide. According to this strategy, the Romanian authorities have begun to develop and implement new norms and technical regulations. These norms and technical regulations have fully changed the previous approach of the storm and runoff modelling in Romania. The paper presents the modeling methods of the design storm and overland runoff, which have been the base of the new norms and regulations (Romanian Standard SR 1846-2/2006, “National medium and long-term flood risk management strategy”, “Methodology for the establishment of the hydrographic basins exposed to floods”) and points out their implications in the environmental protection, water management field and in the fight against extreme meteorological phenomena such as severe floods and droughts