The Danube and Tisza are running perilously low, Lake Balaton has hit record lows, and the soil is missing at least a full year’s worth of rainfall. Amid ever more extreme weather, Hungary’s 19th-century water management system requires radical overhaul – a prospect the Tisza government appears willing to embrace. Yet one cherished lake could vanish by autumn. Lake Velence is in grave peril, demanding immediate intervention.
It has already happened that Lake Velence dried out
Historical records show Lake Velence has dried up repeatedly over the centuries, roughly once every hundred years. The last such episode struck between 1863 and 1866, prompting policymakers to consider draining it alongside Lake Balaton for agricultural use. Though that scheme was largely abandoned (save for partial drainage of Balaton), nature now threatens to deliver the final blow.
As we have reported, the Danube, Tisza, and Balaton are all at unprecedented lows – all the more alarming given that spring ought to be the season of green floods, when rivers and lakes swell with bountiful rain. Instead, one Hungarian lake has already dried up entirely, while the Tisza at Szeged stands at its lowest May level in living memory. Little surprise, then: April was the driest on record since measurements began, with virtually no rain at all, according to HungaroMet.
Extraordinary deluge needed
Attila Szegi, deputy spokesman for the National Water Directorate, notes a deficit of more than 426 millimetres of rain since 2021. Balaton’s level lingers at 87 centimetres; Lake Velence’s, a mere 70 at Agárd. Péter Magyar has urged László Gajdos, the incoming environment minister, to act with urgency. Imre Pál Pálinkás, head of the MOHOSZ Velence branch, insists on artificial intervention, dismissing hopes of natural replenishment. “An extraordinary deluge would be needed to prevent desiccation by autumn,” he warns. Over summer, the current 70-centimetre depth could drop a further 30-50 centimetres.
Pálinkás proposes tapping the Danube via a canal from Komárom, which could also stabilise Balaton – potentially funded by Brussels at a cost of 8-10 billion forints. Expanding wells at Ercsi offers another route. Such works won’t materialise overnight, so experts pin hopes on May and June rains for now, reports Blikk.
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Danube and Tisza levels plummet perilously, lakes dry up – vast drought grips Hungary
Chilling warning in the Hungarian Parliament: 1/3rd of Hungary will be a desert, seasons changed in the country
