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Hungary's Sewerage

Guy DegenOctober 5, 2006

In order to comply with EU standards, Hungary has been allocated 1.5 billion Euros from the EU's cohesion funds to fix its decrepit sewerage systems. It represents one of the biggest EU-funded projects in Hungary.

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EU funds are helping clean up Hungary's wastewater disposalImage: dpa - Bildfunk

Depending on where you are in Hungary, flushing a toilet may be contributing to one of the country's most pressing environmental problems: sewerage and wastewater disposal.

For many years, flush and forget could well have been the state of mind for many Hungarians when it came to sewerage. At present, less than a third of Hungary's 3,000 settlements even have proper sewerage treatment. But that's an improvement on conditions before Hungary joined the European Union in 2004.

In the capital Budapest, just near the Elisabeth Bridge, is the Ördög Árok or Devil's Canal. It discharges about 40,000 cubic meters of untreated sewerage and wastewater into the Danube River everyday.

Nearby, fishermen have their lines in this water. They say the outflow from the canal attracts the fish -- though along with the overpowering stench, the plumes of raw effluent, tampons and household waste is anything but attractive.

Sewerage in large cities is a top priority

Hungary was recently granted a series of staggered target dates to finally comply with the environmental directives necessary for EU membership. By 2015, it's hoped that all small settlements with at least 2,000 residents will have a modern sewerage treatment system.

Donau bei Budapest
The Devil's Canal is just near Budapest's famous Elizabeth BridgeImage: AP

Looking at the bigger picture is Péter Heil, vice-president of the National Development Agency in Hungary. His organization is one the bodies responsible for coordinating the funding from Brussels to meet EU environmental targets.

Heil said the government's policy is to use funding to tackle sewerage problems in industry and larger cities first. The current list of projects being worked on covers around 10 large cities.

"There are smaller investments for settlements below 15,000 people. Those will probably be in the second line of importance in the next period," Heil said. "First of all, we solve the larger cities and after, of course, all around the country."

Making the Danube clean enough for swimming

In the years after Communism, Hungary developed its environmental awareness a little later than in other countries, Heil said.

However, EU funding has provided a ready-made financial and logistical structure to get projects going such as Csepel Island, the new sewerage treatment plant for Budapest.

Located a short drive south of downtown Budapest, the Csepel Island plant is due to be operational within the next four years.

Parlament und Donau Budapest Ungarn
Budapest's sewage can't continue to be pumped into the DanubeImage: Illuscope

At a cost of over 500 million Euros ($634 million), 65 percent of which comes from EU funds, the new plant will put an end to the days of pumping the city's raw sewerage into the Danube.

Károly Oszkó is the managing director of Enviroduna, a private arm of the Budapest City Council that is developing the treatment plant. He said he hoped once it's completed, the people of Budapest should see a difference in the Danube's water quality.

"Now everybody knows that swimming in the Danube is prohibited," Oszkó said. "But we hope that after the complete implementation of the wastewater treatment program in Budapest, the Danube will be clean enough for public bathing or swimming."

Natural solutions shouldn't be ignored

Keeping a close eye on Hungary's wastewater problem is the environmental group WWF Hungary.

Biomasse, Strom aus Schilf
Reed is an alternative for wastewater disposalImage: AP

Director Ferenc Márkus said it's a scandal that untreated sewerage from Budapest flows into the Danube. Markus applauds the EU funding to tackle such an enormous environmental issue. But he said that each town and city must find a sewerage solution that suits its particularly local environment.

"It's very important in the countryside that we use a natural system, as well," Márkus said. "We don't need to create a mega sewerage system everywhere."

In small villages, for example, sewerage could be managed biologically, for example by using reed roots.

"But in Budapest, it's necessary to create EU-funded sewerage plants," Márkus said.

Hungary can now help other countries with its EU know-how

Environmentalists are not the only ones keeping tabs on how money from Brussels is spent in Hungary. For a country with a history of corruption, the sums of money involved mean there is a lot at stake for the credibility of Hungary as a new EU member.

Erzsébet Gál is a local consultant and has observed up close some of Hungary's large-scale EU-funded environmental projects. She said that money from Brussels is being spent in the right way and that Hungary can now export its knowledge of managing major EU-funded endeavors.

"I think it's an important aspect that during the last five years, EU member experts came here to Hungary to show how it works," Gál said. "Now, the Hungarian experts can go to Romania, Bulgaria and other countries to show how it worked in Hungary."

For the next period of EU funding spanning 2007 to 2013, the Hungarian government together with Brussels is planning to pour four billion Euros into environmental projects around the country. By the end of that period, Hungary should be much closer to meeting its environmental targets as an EU member.