(BUCHAREST) - A third of Romanians have no access to running water or sewers, Environment Minister Attila Korodi said Wednesday, calling for heavy investment to bring the country in line with the rest of the European Union.

Only 52 percent of Romanians have both running water and access to the sewage system, while 32 percent have neither, the minister said at the launch of a project to modernise infrastructure. The remaining 16 percent have only running water.

"The sewage system is 18,381 kilometres (11,421 miles) long, which means only 11.5 million Romanians (out of a total population of 22 million) have access to it, including 10 million in towns and 1.5 million in the countryside," Korodi added.

He also noted that 47 Romanian towns, including Bucharest, dump untreated sewage into rivers and that out of 1,310 sewage treatment plants in the country, some 63.4 percent do not operate properly.

To solve this problem, Romania will have to invest 9.5 billion euros (14 billion dollars) by 2018, Korodi noted.

Bucharest must also increase the recycling of household waste to comply with European norms.

Currently, only two percent of recyclable materials are being re-used, the minister said.

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