Balta Amara

Balta Amara is a fluvial lagoon formed along a former course of the Buzău river, located in Câmpia Râmnicului, on the territory of Balta Albă commune, Buzău County, at the border with Brăila County. Covering an area of over 1,000 hectares and with an average depth of under 2 metres, the lake represented one of the most valuable lowland wetland ecosystems in southern Romania, with aquatic and marsh vegetation similar to that of the Danube Delta. The nature reserve once sheltered significant populations of protected wild bird species — approximately 150 species — including globally threatened species, and served as a wintering and migratory stopover site for numerous waterbirds. The lake entered a progressive decline starting in 2020 and dried up completely in the summer of 2022, due to extreme drought and the absence of consistent water supply from underground springs and from the Buzău river — whose course had been shifted far from its original channel. The drying up led to the disappearance of the fauna and vegetation, transforming the area into a lunar landscape and causing, due to the similarity in name, widespread national confusion with the Amara Balneary Resort in Ialomița County, which negatively affected bookings at the latter. The authorities initiated projects to dredge a branch of the Buzău river in order to re-ecologise the riverbed. Heavy rainfall in 2025–2026 led to approximately 70% of the basin being refilled, with birds and vegetation beginning to recolonise the area. The process of natural ecosystem recovery is ongoing and can be observed directly from the banks of the lake.