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Global Warming: Alarm Over Hungary's Shrinking Lake
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Global Warming
Alarm Over Hungary's Shrinking Lake
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by Ian Geoghegan at Lake Balaton
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LAKE BALATON, Hungary - Lake Balaton, central Europe's biggest fresh water lake and one of Hungary's main tourist attractions, is shrinking, prompting warnings of a potential ecological and economic catastrophe.
For the first time since records began in 1865, four consecutive hot summers and low annual rainfall have sucked millions of gallons (cubic liters) of water from the lake, exposing large mudflats and forcing holiday makers to walk far out into the lake before they can swim.
One legend has it that a young girl sits weeping in a church in the center of the lake, her tears the source of water for one of central Europe's favorite family and recreational resorts.
Maybe she's stopped crying, but scientists, preferring a more pragmatic theory, blame the falling water levels on global warming, and warn that such rapid climate change could devastate Balaton's tourism-dependent economy in the decades to come. Hungary's leftist government, battling to get the economy in shape to join the European Union next May, has asked scientists to prepare an advisory report on the Balaton by October.
Balaton, 160 km (100 miles) south of Budapest, covers 600 sq km (231 square miles). Once a summer retreat for the Austro-Hungarian empire's elite, it was a favored meeting point for East and West Germans when communism restricted international travel.
With its warm, shallow waters, picturesque villages, thermal spas and sloping vineyards, the lake attracts several million tourists each year and accounts for over five percent of GDP. But this blazing summer has been particularly hard. JEWEL Hungary's wheat crop is down by a third and the Danube, a key freight artery, is at its lowest levels in parts for over a century. Summer temperatures have been some four degrees Celsius above the 100-year average. All this is hitting the jewel in Hungary's tourism crown. Iren Heinzl, who has maintained a small holiday home on Balaton's southern shore for over 40 years, is at a loss to explain how the lake has receded so rapidly this year. "Over the last four years, the lake's been getting smaller but, since May, I've been shocked to see what's been going on. Maybe in a few years it'll be like Africa here," she said.
Long wooden jetties that used to stretch from shore side gardens into the lake now stand awkward and exposed, ending abruptly hundreds of meters (yards) short of the lake.
"No one seems to know why this is happening. I hope the scientists are working on this as it's not just a local problem but one for the whole of Europe." Some local businesses blame Hungary's media for helping fan the talk of crisis at Balaton, with reports of high prices and poor service, as well as the lower water levels.
Many Hungarians have opted this year to go to neighboring Croatia's Adriatic coast, but Balaton's bar and cafe owners predict they will return once they have compared prices.
At Balatonfenyves, another small lakeside resort, large mud banks have appeared around 100 meters (328 feet) offshore.
Families play soccer in ankle-deep water where previously they would have been able to swim.
Lack of action by the authorities has fueled a mood of anger and frustration among the thousands of small businesses that eke out a summer living from the mainly German, Austrian and local holiday makers.
Some want an immediate remedy, with fresh water brought in to top up the lake, though many are aware of warnings that this could disturb Balaton's delicate ecological balance. Others want a more inspired marketing campaign, moving on from the decades-old sales pitch of Hungary as the land of goulash, paprika and merry gypsy folk music. Tibor Reti, whose parents have run a small lakeside cafe for 21 years, said they had had enough and were packing up to leave. "Business this season is down by 50 percent. There's no future for us here at Balaton unless something is done about the water levels," he said.
A stone's throw away, another business is closing down, its giant water slide standing idle. Where it used to plunge into the lake, its spout now hangs in mid-air, meters above dry mud.
CLIMATE CHANGE Balaton, itself a result of climate change at the end of the last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago, is fed by rainfall and the Zala river in the south -- home to unique bird life which is under threat if the lake continues to dry up. When full, the lake is drained through the Sio-Canal further north. Some water is normally removed this way each year, but it is now 38 months since those sluice gates were last opened.
Miklos Zagoni, science historian at Budapest University, said Balaton, as a shallow lake with an average depth of little more than three meters (10 feet), is an accurate gauge of climate change.
"Balaton's stability over the years shows the stability of climate change, but the last four years shows a big turn," he said. "This is the fourth year Balaton has had more evaporation than precipitation -- a typical case of climate change. "Statistically, this is a very significant trend change, and I believe it's a direct cause of global warming." Zagoni sees no short-term solution. "Society as a whole has to stop the process of climate change. This may result in an economic versus ecological battle, but we have to change the way we live. "Maybe this summer, with all the (heat wave-related) deaths in France and fires in Portugal, will prove a turning point and finally push politicians' minds in the right direction." MOTHER NATURE At his desk in Budapest, Environment Minister Miklos Persanyi prepares to chair a meeting of Balaton experts. He says the government is aware of concerns over lower water levels, but will not take hasty and costly decisions until the scientists have had their say. "In the first instance, we hope Mother Nature will cure the problem," he said, noting it was only three years ago that 1.2 billion cubic meters of water were drained from the lake because water levels were too high.
"We will get the scientific reports and review the options, the costs, the ecological and environmental implications. But, even if we decide to add water (from nearby rivers), this could take two to three years," he said. Persanyi noted there was a global decline in tourism, and some visitors may have been put off by an incident earlier this year at Hungary's Paks nuclear plant. The government was also tackling Balaton's environmental issues, while boosting its profile as a central European haven for wine lovers, anglers, cyclists and health spas. "Yes, there are problems for some in the tourist industry, but maybe the water level is not the most important," he said. "Balaton remains one of our natural treasures."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited
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