National interest to protect water resources, Orbán cabinet says

Hungary’s water resources are a national treasure, and protecting them is in everyone’s interest, a government official said on Friday, World Water Day.

In order to guarantee water quality for Hungarian families in the long run, the water utility sector must be run more sustainably, the state secretary for water utilities of the energy ministry, Zsolt V Németh, said in a statement, noting that an independent state secretariat is responsible for the sector and has been working to consolidate the sector’s operations.

Today 36 providers in Hungary are responsible for drinking water, waste-water drainage and treatment services, compared with 400 in 2010, he said.

The quality of provision and the long-term economic stability of the service providers has also increased, he added.

The number of waste-water treatment plants has doubled in ten years, with more than 800 operating today, the statement said. A key task of the next decade will be renewing the drinking water network, it added.

Also, Hungary’s rivers and lakes are a government priority, and the ministry backs civil initiatives such as the PET Cup waste collection competitions aimed at cleaning waterways, he said.

In 1992, the UN declared March 22 as World Water Day. This year’s world day with the motto Water for Peace aims to send the message that prosperity and peace highly depend on water.

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