Introduction

Dam construction was practiced since old times on the Romanian territory. First dams were certainly built during the first centuries A.D. when Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire (106-274 AD). One of those dams is Taul Mare (H=23 m), built to provide water for the gold flotation, that, after successive refurbishments, is still in opreration.
During the XXth century, and especially after 1950, dam construction in Romania recorded important achievements. Presently, in Romania there are over 200 large dams according to ICOLD standards, in operations and over 20 under construction. Taking into account the number of dams, Romania is on the 9th position among the European countries.

The evolution of dam construction and, generally, of the water resources development in Romania in the last 100 years was in close interrelationship with hydropower developments but also with the needs of water regulations for land irrigation, industrial and domestic water supply, flood control or navigation purposes.

The water resources in Romania for an average hydrologic year are estimated to 142 km3 from witch 93 km3 represents Danube annual stock. The storage capacity of the manmade reservoirs, existing now in Romania reaches 13 km3 generally ensuring a satisfactory regulation for all purposes, excepting flood control.

Hydroelectric potential of Romania an average hydrologic year is evaluated to about 40.000 GWh/year. Presently, the total installed capacity in the hydropower stations that are in operation in Romania is over 5800 MW.

The annual hydroelectric energy output is about 17000 GWh/year, representing about 30% of total annual electric energy produced in Romania. However, only 42% of the hydroelectric potential of Romania is developed up to now the rest being a priority objective for the next period.