16 May 2006Planet ArkAndras Gergely
Hungary's fertile plains have seen record floods this year, yet the sandy but arable soil on a tenth of Hungary's land between the rivers Danube and Tisza is getting alarmingly dry, said Janos Nacsa, of Szent Istvan University in Godollo, 30 km (18 miles) east of Budapest.
To control floods and reclaim land for crops, communist authorities in the 1950s drained lakes in the Homokhatsag region (homok is Hungarian for sand) between the two rivers, starting a process which could make the area uninhabitable 20 years from now, Nacsa said.
"The sand gradually pushes out the vegetation, even the grass burns out and trees cannot reach the water with their roots," Nacsa told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
The problem has been aggravated by climate change and smaller rainfall in the region, and groundwater has dropped by up to 10 metres, said Nacsa, who coordinates development projects in central Hungary for the Prime Minister's Office.
"Marsh has turned into dust; even in a year with flooding, there is not even water here."
Hungary has the European Union's largest grain surplus, but the 8,000-10,000 square kilometres of sandy soil in the Homokhatsag is better suited for orchards and vineyards -- as long as the water lasts.
DANUBE-TISZA CANAL
One way to bring water to the area would be a canal between the two rivers, which various Hungarian governments have been planning since the mid-19th century and which could now become a reality if the EU helped finance it, Nacsa said.
"There are two options: one is to introduce drought-resistant plants to achieve lower water consumption, the other is to bring the water to the area," he said.
The canal would also open up a new waterway towards heavy agriculture exporter Ukraine where the Tisza originates and which relies on the Black Sea for most of its transport.
"To create such a navigable canal would cost 125-150 billion forints (US$736.7 million)," Nacsa said.
"But if we don't supply water, the region will not be able to support 300,000 people any more," he added. "How much would it cost to find new homes for 300,000 people?" Global warming, which most scientists agree is hastened by burning fossil fuels, has led to shorter springs and disasters such as heavy hailstorms in other parts of Hungary, but the Homokhatsag has a climate of its own, Nacsa said. The canal across the area could be part of Hungary's new water infrastructure, which according to government plans will also include reservoirs on farmland to control the flooding of the meandering Tisza.
