No EU funds: water will become very expensive in Hungary

Without an additional source, the plumbing network may collapse in Hungary. The Ministry of Energy is working on the creation of a new, unified water fee system.

The Hungarian water network is problematic

Viktor Kurdi, president of the Hungarian Water Utilities Association (MaVíz), spoke to Népszava about the Hungarian water network.

“The signs of the obsolescence of the domestic drinking water network, which began many years ago, are slowly becoming visible to everyone,”

he said. The freezing of water charges in 2012, the reduction in utilities in 2013, and the pipeline tax affecting water utilities together led to the fact that the revenues of the service providers no longer cover the cost of maintenance, reconstruction and expansion of the network and other infrastructure elements. For a while, this was offset by development projects started with external, mostly EU funds, but now their effect is insufficient to cover the deficit.

Out of every 100 liters of water pumped into the drinking water network, an average of 20-25 liters flows through broken or cracked pipes. There are places where the network loss reaches 40-50 percent, that is, almost half of the water does not reach the consumer, which is a tremendous waste.

Renovating the plumbing system would be expensive

It would be extremely expensive for the sector’s infrastructure to reach the technical service level required by the age. In addition, it is not possible to make up for the missing reconstructions all at once. According to Viktor Kurdi, complex renovation, especially in cities, requires extremely careful planning and scheduled implementation, which can take 10-15 years even if the funds are available. An independent state secretariat was established in the Ministry of Energy in order to raise the standard of public utility services and ensure the functionality of the sector’s publicly owned companies.

A comprehensive renovation program is needed

In itself, the fact that the issue of water utility service has risen to the level of an independent state secretary is a clear message to local governments that state service is the only solution. This message was reinforced by the fact that the government left water utility companies out of the overhead protection fund, saying that they have the opportunity to join the state service.

According to Viktor Kurdi, integration is still open to companies. In addition to the free transfer of water utility assets, local governments can hand over the responsibility for supply to the state. However, this has been the case for two years. As he says, the legislation planned for the fall will reveal whether a greater state involvement in the sector than the current one is desirable or not. A comprehensive renovation program is needed, which cannot be solved with the resources currently available to the sector.