WATER PROTECTION AREAS AND RIPARIAN BUFFERS WITHIN THE CAMENCA AND CUBOLTA RIVER BASINS

Summary. Present study is a first attempt to perform a digital delineation of the protectionareas and riparian buffer strips for the rivers and reservoirs for the Camenca and Cubolta rivers andtheir tributaries. Also, a special attention was paid to estimation of main land cover types in thelimits of riparian buffer strips. Delineation of protection areas and riparian buffer strips was doneusing recommendations from national legislation, Water Law, and geoinformational techniques insemiautomat way. Land cover was evaluated by using actual satellite images from Google Eatrh tool.Main river types considered are streams, 2,5-10 km, very small streams, 10-50 km, small rivers, 50-100 km, medium rivers, 100-200 km. As a result, 267,4 km2 and 334 km2 of water protection areaswere delimitated in the Cubolta river and the Camenca river basins. These areas are divided betweenmedium and very small rivers, with a share of 30-39% and 57-66% respectively. 29 km2 and 36,5km2 of riparian buffer strips were delineated for the two study areas. The share of these areas, in bothbasins, is divided approximately equal between streams, very small rivers and medium rivers. In theCubolta and the Camenca river, no small rivers, with the length between 50-100 km, were identified.The areas along medium, very small rivers as well as streams are mainly covered by grassland, by60-84%, forests are practically absent, of about 2-9%. Rural and arable areas are not high of 2-13%,being lower in Camenca basin and higher in Cubolta basin.Key words: riparian buffers strips, land cover, small rivers