1. Introduction Currently, deriving from the entry into force of the new Law of Water was triggered the process of elaboration of Management Plans for River Basin Districts, including and of the Prut. A key component of the Plan of Management represents The Pressures and Impact on water bodies Analysis. According to the Water Framework Directive and the Guidelines no. 3 (IMPRESS) of that directive, we distinguish three major types of pressure: Point source pollution; Diffuse source pollution and Hydro-morphological alterations. Hydro-morphological alterations are including interruption of river continuity; significant morphological alterations of rivers and lakes; significant water abstraction of surface and ground water resources, or other flow regulation activities. The Prut River Basin within the limits of the Republic of Moldova – has a total area of 8140 km2, in which, according to the Water Body Identification and Typology, 89 river water bodies have been identified (Annex 1), with a total length of 2164 km. The average length of RWBs is 24.3 km, only 2 RWBs have a length over 100 km, the average RWBs basin area is 94 km2, 61 RWBs basins have an area less than 100 km2. 2. The methodology The Pressures and Impact Analysis is based on the approaches and methodology proposed in WFD and the guidelines for WFD implementation, Guidelines provided by project EPIBR expert group: Guidance Document addressing hydromorphology and physico-chemistry for a Pressure-Impact Analysis/ Risk Assessment according to the EU WFD, New water law 272 from 2011, by laws, Moldavian Laws, Normative Acts and Strategies. 3. Results and Discussions The JFS 2013 results have shown that hydromorphological alterations considerably affect the ecological status of rivers. The most significant pressures in Prut pilot basins are the interruption of the river continuity by dam construction and water abstraction. All small tributaries are regulated (cascades of dams) and usually not in good ecological conditions. Water abstraction. The average annual surface water resources of the Prut river is estimated at 4580 million cub. m. Only half of that is generated on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. The main source of drinking water is the surface waters of the Prut river bed. The cities of Briceni, Edineţ, Cupcini, Glodeni, Ungheni, Leova, Cantemir and Cahul are supplied from the river bed. The problem with water abstraction is the high losses of water in the process of transportation (about 3 million cub. m per year), which is approximately 15% of total. The water abstraction decreased by almost 5 times during the last 20 years to 26,8 million cub. m. At the same time, the structure of water consumption over the major sectors remained unchanged. Another problem associated with the impact on the water recourses is the unauthorized use of the surface water and, most of all, groundwater in rural areas, violations of sanitary protection zones of wells, lack of water meters, etc. An average of 21% of the consumed water is used for municipal purposes. The water consumption has stabilized over the past 4 years at a level of 3.7 million cub. m. Only 7 regions are using water from the Prut river bed for municipal purposes. The most important areas in the structure of water consumption (from the demographic standpoint) are Ungheni and Cahul (see Annex 2). There are almost 100 water consumers over the basin. The largest consumers are the companies providing water supply and sewage. Water abstraction for irrigation purposes. Around 3 million cub. m of water from the basin, which is 17.6% of the total water consumption, is used for irrigation purposes. Water abstraction for irrigation purposes has undergone the most significant changes. It was reduced by 75 times if compared to 1990. The total volume of the consumed water resources has been fluctuating greatly over the last years. This is mostly related to the climatic conditions, that is the level of support with water recourses. During some years the availability of water recourses may be heavily decreased due to a dry weather (as it was in 2007). This is also related to an access to irrigation systems, their condition, lack of annual funding to support public irrigation systems, farmings and associations of irrigation water users, as well as the high cost of irrigation water. Northern regions of R. Moldova, as well as the regions of Edineţ, Făleşti and Glodeni (63.2% of total water consumption) are the largest consumers of water for irrigation purposes. This area is characterized with the highest density of artificial reservoirs. Water abstraction for industrial needs, just as for the other sectors of economy, significantly decreased in the period from 1990 to 2011 (over 8.5 times). Over the last 11 years this level dropped by more than 1 million cub. m and reached 1.61 million cub. m in 2011. The largest consumers are the regions with large manufacturing outfit. Two sugar factories (in Glodeni and Făleşti) consume 728 thousand cub. m of water per year, which is 45.2% of the total amount of water from the basin used for industrial purposes. Wine industry in Nisporeni, Cantemir and Cahul, baking industry (in Cahul and Ungheni), dairy industry (in Făleşti and Rîşcani), breweries (Cahul), light industry (in Ungheni, Cahul and Făleşti), etc. are among the other major water consumers. Reservoirs. Lakes in the Prut basin in R. Moldova are about 1400. By their origin, they are natural and artificial. Natural lakes are located primarily in the Prut River valley. Typically they are small in area, shallow in depth, and often covered with marsh and hydrophytic vegetation. Only four of these lakes have surface area larger than 2 km2. By origin, they are two types: floodplain lakes and dammed lakes. Floodplain lakes have characteristics (area, depth, hydrologic regime, etc.) largely determined by the regime of lower Prut River and the Danube. Hydrological amelioration works carried out in the 1970s drained numerous floodplain lakes. Prior to this, lakes in the Prut valley extended as a garland across about 100 km between Cantemir and Giurgiulesti. Lakes in the section from Cahul to Giurgiulesti are preserved today. The largest Prut floodplain lake is Beleu Lake, which is located in the lower reaches of the Prut between the villages of Valeni and Slobozia Mare. During drought periods, it has area of about 6,26 km2 and maximum depth of 1,2 m; during floods, it has maximum area is 9,5 km2 and maximum depth of 2,8–3,0 m. Dammed lakes have formed as a result from landslide processes. They do not exceed a few hectares in area and 1,0–1,5 m in depth. Reservoirs have been created to meet different economic needs (fisheries, irrigation, power generation, recreation, etc.), as well as to regulate river flow and control floods. Reservoirs in the Prut basin number about 1350, with combined area of 75,3 km2. They fall into two conventional categories: ponds and reservoirs. Ponds are small water bodies, created in the valleys of small rivers, primarily for local needs. Ponds in the Prut basin in Moldova number about 1300. Characteristically, reservoirs created on small rivers have unequal spatial distribution. In combined area, they comprise 1.5–4% of the total area of RWBs basins in the north of the study region, and only 0.5–1.5% in the south (Annex 3). Ponds and reservoirs in a big number were constructed in the small rivers floodplain and modify the hydrological regime of the RWBs. In the central part of the Prut River Basin more than 30 % on the river lengths is impounded by the reservoirs, the share decreases to the south and is stable in the north (Annex 4). Reservoirs conventionally have useful water volume of over 1 million m3. Reservoirs have been constructed on both small and large rivers to regulate river flow and to meet various economic needs. Reservoirs in the Prut basin number 46, with combined (projected) volume of 825,52 million m3. Estimates show that, in the time of their operation, due to siltation, the combined volume of reservoirs has decreased by an average of 0,50% per year, and the volume Costesti Reservoir – by 0,58% per year, making its effective volume in 2011 approximately 594,4 million m3. Hydraulic power plant and hydropeaking. Within the Prut basin in Moldova, there is a single 32 000 kW Hydraulic power Plant (HPP) Costeşti-Stânca. Having the total volume of 678 million cub. m, StâncaCosteşti reservoir allows to reduce the risk of flooding (with probability 1%, and outflow of 2940 to 700 cubic meters per second). This allows to irrigate around 140,000 hectare of bottomland area, which is around 70,000 hectare on the territory of Moldova. Hydropeaking effect, except flood events, is not characteristic for Costesti-Stinca hydro power complex. From this point of view the hydrotechnical complex presents low pressure effect on hydrological regime. Because of lack of information the hydropeaking effect of reservoirs situated on small and medium sized RWBs cannot be evaluated. In this case 61 RWBs on which reservoirs are situated are attributed to status: Possible at risk. Irrigation and drain channels. In recent years, R. Moldova has been widely practicing rehabilitation and expansion of irrigation systems that is to be followed by expansion of irrigated farmlands. In the Republic of Moldova, 26 water users associations were registered to date with only 6 of them located within the Prut basin. The irrigation area belonging to the associations totals 1121 hectares whereas the capacity of their irrigation systems is as high as almost 11 000 hectares. A spatial analysis of the registered water users shows their non-uniform areal distribution. A half of them is concentrated in a single village of Balauresti and one more association is concentrated in the neighboring village of Grozesti. As of today, there are 78 irrigation systems and 131 700 ha of lands fitted for irrigation in Moldova. 33 irrigation systems exist within the Prut basin with a total area fitted for irrigation of 51481 hectares (Annex 5). All the existing irrigation systems are on the books of Apele Moldovei Agency. The drainage system was constructed in the bottomland area in the floodplain of the river Prut in 1970-1980. It includes a number of drain and collecting canals and over 20 drainage pumping stations. The drainage was allowed to recover some bottomland area and flood plain of the river Prut with the total area of 23,541 hectares, to include 22,141 hectares of flood plain and marshes, from under the influence of flood water. A total of five diked marshes were established within the area of 16,688 hectares of the drained flood plain. Flood protection (embanking). National flood protection embankments along the river Prut were designed, constructed and reconstructed, starting from the second half of the XX century, particularly after the historical flood of 1969, which resulted in an intensified construction of the protection embankments along the river. This is the current protection system in the floodplain of the river Prut, which is protecting farmlands and agricultural facilities from being flooded with the transit floodwater. Specifications of the existing protective dams (Annex 6): Length: 0.9 to 18 km; Top width: 3 to 5 m; Height: 3-4 to 6 m; Dam slope: sea-bound slope of a dam is 1,5 to 3 , downstream slope 1.0 – 2.0. Another important and topical matter is the increase of roughness over the goaf area as this process reduces the carrying capacity of the river bed and facilitates the rise in the level of flood waves, which finally results in a spill over the food-breaking dam with its further destruction. It is now necessary to perform the design and survey work in order to evaluate the flood (highwater) level with consideration to the current condition of the dams. Risk assessment or overall pressure/impact evaluation Analysis of water bodies at risk was made by attributing to water bodies the type of risk and respective color: green, orange, red (Annex 8.1) which is shown in Guidance Document addressing hydromorphology and physico-chemistry for a Pressure-Impact Analysis/Risk Assessment according to the EU WFD. The same approach was used when creating the maps. Of the total number of surface water bodies, according impoundment/reservoirs effect, only 9 water bodies are not at risk of modification or (alteration) (Annex 8.2). They are represented by the Prut river (there is only one dam - Costesti-Stinca) and some of its tributaries, which are located in the plateau areas, where the construction of dams is more problematic. 28 water bodies are subject to moderate risk (ex. Ciuhur, Sarata), and 24 water bodies are subject to high risk. Water bodies at risk are predominantly located in the North, most of them being within the limits of the Middle Prut Plain (Caldarusa, Glodeanca, Ustia, Garla Mare, Şoltoaia, etc.). Here, as a result of construction of dams in the 1950-1990 years, have been created about 1,500 reservoirs. In same time reservoirs situated in the rivers floodplain modify hydrological regime of the rivers. Due to lack of information on management of these reservoirs the RWBs which contain reservoirs on their course are considered at possible risk. The highest water abstractions from the Prut River are recorded in the most populated districts and, respectively, the most industrialized – Edinet, Ungheni and Cahul. During the last 20 years water abstraction decreased by almost 13 times and for now does not represent a high pressure on water resources. One of the main problems are unauthorized abstractions of water from small and medium sized river, because this phenomenon exists (but there is now information about it) and in dry periods it can create unsatisfactory conditions for rivers state all RWBs were attributed to category possible at risk. Another problem associated with the impact on the water resources is the unauthorized use of the surface water and, most of all, groundwater in rural areas, violations of sanitary protection zones of wells, lack of water meters, etc. The levees have both a positive influence, through its function of flood protection, and negative influence by increasing the velocity of the river flow. The main levees have been built in lowland regions - middle and lower part of the Prut River Basin. Thus, according to length of dams, related to length of the RWBs, Cahul, Cantemir, Leova, Hîncești districts are highlighted (all in the lower course of Prut River) and Făleşti and Glodeni districts (in the middle course). The length of irrigation channels related to RWBs length also depends on the specifics of landscape, having the same spatial distribution as protection dams. The biggest irrigation systems are located in the lowlands, within the limits of Cahul, Cantemir and Leova districts. These areas are increasing, due to expansion of irrigated areas projects, so that the influence of this factor will increase. 4. Conclusions Hydromorphological pressure was assumed to be a sum of all pressures: impoundments/reservoir effect, hydropeaking, water abstraction, levees and irrigation channels, in total it gave a sum of 15 points and respectively to low pressure the RWBs of 1-5 points were attributed, to moderate pressure those with 6-10 points and to high pressure those with 11- 15 points (Annex 7). The influence of hydromophological alteration (Annex 8.7) is low for 43 RWBs (especially the Prut River itself), is moderate to 45 water bodies (most tributaries) and is high in the case of a single water body (Valea Carmagi). All these data will be reassessed (in the negative sense) during the integration of data and results from Ukrainian side of the basin. References 1. Anuarul Inspectoratului Ecologic de Stat – 2012 „Protecţia mediului în R. Moldova”, Ministerul mediului, Inspectoratul Ecologic de Stat, Chişinău, 2013 2. Anuarul Statistic al Republicii Moldova, 2012, Departamentul Statistică şi Sociologie, Chişinău, 2013, 703 pag. 3. Birgit Vogel. Guidance Document addressing hydromorphology and physico-chemistry for a Pressure-Impact Analysis/Risk Assessment according to the EU WFD. EPIRB Project Activity 2 Pilot Testing in EPIRB Project River Basins. Viena, 2014 4. COMMON IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY FOR THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE (2000/60/EC). Guidance document no 3. Analysis of Pressures and Impacts. Produced by Working Group 2.1 – IMPRESS, European Communities, 2003; 5. Water Framework Directive. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. European Communities, 2000;