Unbelievable: Hungary, the land of spas, baths, rivers and lakes, is drying out

The Tisza River was approaching its lowest water level last week, which is tragic at the beginning of the growing season. Meanwhile, the government would like to help developing complex irrigation projects in Hungary.

Hungary drying out

According to Barna Borbás, a journalist for Válasz Online, an independent media outlet, the situation was dramatic in Nagykörű, a village 27 km from Szolnok, because the River Tisza was at minus 200 cm 5 days ago, only 80 cm above the lowest recorded water level.

Last autumn, the riverbed also lacked water, but that was after the summer drought. Now, we are at the end of winter, in the so-called melting period when large amounts of water should come down from the Carpathian Mountains to the River Tisza. However, there was no significant snowfall in that area, so the 2025 growing season would begin with a water level drop between -250 and -280 cm in early March. That may be catastrophic concerning the crops and yields this summer.

Mr Borbás shed light on another extraordinary phenomenon in a separate Facebook post: the water level of the River Danube is so low in Budapest that the so-called Ínség Szikla (“Famine Rock”) may emerge in days. Based on the Dunai Szigetek blog, the rock is visible if the water level decreases below ~95 cm. That happens 100 days a year on average but during the summer droughts. In March, the rock was never visible, as this month should see the so-called spring flood on the Danube instead of record-low water levels.

Orbán cabinet calls tender for complex irrigation investments

Zsolt Feldman, the Agriculture Ministry’s state secretary for farming and rural development said on Wednesday that the government has called a new HUF 50bn tender to support complex irrigation development projects.

Applicants can be awarded HUF 200m to HUF 5bn of funding. Given the complexity of the developments, 36 months are available for implementation. The tender is open to farmers, state-recognized producer groups and cooperatives, or sustainable water management communities.

Funding is available for the introduction of water-saving irrigation technologies, the optimization of water use in irrigation systems, the modernization, expansion and reconstruction of water-saving irrigation infrastructure and related structures, and the creation of new water supply works and systems.

Read also:

• Attention! Drinking tap water in certain areas of Hungary is dangerous – read more HERE
• Hungary has one of the largest thermal water reserves in the world – details HERE