Water giant to save the Sandhills from desertification can start

The construction of the flood protection system in Hungary will soon be completed, creating the most extensive and safest system in Europe - said V. Zsolt Németh, State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, at a briefing on The Water's Path to the Sandy Plain on 4 June. <The era of "Water in the landscape"has not just begun, he said, with 170 billion forints of investment in the country over the past ten years to replenish water resources.

These include the Mosoni-Duna, the Ős-Dráva and the Debrecen-based Civaqua programme in Debrecen, he added. However, of the completed programmes, the most important from the perspective of Homokhátság is the Kvassay lock, the renovation of this complex of structures and the construction of the pumping station, said the state secretary. This latter major investment, which was Colas Alterra Zrt. and STRABAG Generálépítő Kft., right up until the recent handover.

The Kvassay sluice was the first step

Gábor Bányai, Government Commissioner for the Complex Development of the Southern Great Plain Economic Development Zone, spoke at the event about the Kvassay lock, among other things, as the first step to bring the Danube water safely to the foot of the Sandhachatsi. He stressed that the region had been suffering from drought for a long time, and that the warming had accelerated in the last five years, with the evaporation index doubling and the number of hot, dry days several times higher than before.

The Danube water system will be linked to the Tisza water network

So the next step is to compensate for this by bringing water up to the high ground separating the Danube from the Tisza. He pointed out that the regional investment presented at the event will be implemented in the areas of Hajós, Császártöltés, Kéleshalom, Kunfehértó, Harkakötöny and Kiskunhalas to restore the regional water supply, especially to meet ecological water needs. The project's planned water abstraction in Vávis will help to realise the long-standing ambition to link the Danube water system with the Tisza water network, thereby replenishing the diminishing groundwater resources.

The Commissioner is confident that with the government's decision and the resources available

it could be possible to save the 11,000 square kilometres concerned from drying out and "the Sandbanks will not be a desert"

Decades-awaited project to get underway

Sándor Font, Member of Parliament for the region, called the persistent water level drop in the Sandhachatsi the biggest problem of the Danube-Tisza area. He recalled that in order to tackle the problem, Sándor Lezsák, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, as an opposition MP, submitted a parliamentary resolution proposal at the end of the nineties, which was voted by the Parliament. However, over the past 28 years, the parties concerned have been unable to agree on how to intervene and how to carry it out, he added.

However, he says that now

"the decision has been taken, the funding is secured", and environmental and water permits are already in place. He stressed that in the first phase, some 67 billion forints will be spent to curb the waterlogging of the Sandhills.

Water is piped 45 metres above the Danube

Robert Telkes, Director of the Lower Danube Valley Water Management Directorate recalled that experts noticed the decline in groundwater levels in the Sandy Plain forty years ago and have been working on the management of the problem ever since. He reiterated that the Kvassay sluice will be a key facility in the implementation of water recharge in the Sandhog, as it will help to ensure the operational safety of the future water intake in Váh.

As for the details of the project, he said that a pumping station will be built one kilometre from the Vessels dam of the Danube Valley main canal, from where water will be pumped through pressure pipes for ten kilometres to Kéleshalom, 45 metres higher up, to a reservoir with a capacity of one million cubic metres. From there, the water can be distributed to Kiskunhalas, among other places, by means of small transfers," he added. The project will also include the construction of another dam about ten kilometres north of the Vovos dam. Its task will be to raise the water level in the main channel of the Danube Valley.

Once the first phase is completed, a flow rate of 3 cubic metres of water per second will be provided

The director recalled that the area of Marjeg had until recently been an area at high risk of flooding, but the canals, which had been drained, will now be used to drain the water back. The dam will also be needed to supply water to the areas of Hajós, Homokmégy, Dusnok, Sükösd and Érsekcsanád.

According to the press material distributed on site, preliminary model studies indicate that without the construction of the Danube intake, the Ráckevei (Soroksári)-Danube - Kiskunsági-main channel - Danube Valley main channel water supply can be provided to the sand spit area outside the irrigation season, during the winter-spring period, at a rate of 3 cubic metres per second in the first phase.

It is planned to expand and develop the facilities of the first phase, and to implement the planned Danube intake in the area of Fajsz, which will allow for a future water supply of 18 cubic metres per second to the Sandhaven.