Hidrológiai Közlöny, 2016 (96. évfolyam)
2016 / 3. szám - HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT - Juhász Endre - Major Veronika: Sanitation in Hungary
Endre Juhász & Veronika Major: Sanitation in Hungary 27 collection. On one hand, the necessary financial power was not available in the villages, on the other hand aversion to new ideas, insistence on traditional way of life also contributed to the negative attitude towards public utilities. The approach in wastewater treatment remained the same. The „highest” level of treatment were screens installed at some outfalls on the riverbank. In 1936, in order to protect the drinking water supply of Budapest, a compound settling basin (Imhoff tank) was established in the town of Vác (30 km from Budapest upriver). Its removal efficiency was -20% regarding suspended solids and 9% regarding organic matter. The first plan of an actual wastewater treatment plant in Hungary was prepared in 1936, the aim was to treat the wastewater of the industrial zone of North Budapest. The facility would have contained only mechanical treatment technologies, but the project was cancelled due to preparations for World War II. Only the stormwater pumping station was constructed. Between the two World Wars public water supply (mainly in cities) had significantly greater development opportunities. In the second quarter of the 20th century, between 1930 and 1945, the capacity of water works increased by 235 000 nvVd, while the treatment capacity showed a much smaller growth of 22 000 m3/d, thereof 15 000 m3/d was destroyed during World War II. Sewerage development was hindered by the effects of World War I and subsequent huge territory loss (2/3 of the country) and later by preparations for the new war. The main advocates of sewerage were the densely populated cities, where the blocks of flats were the dominant type of homes. Smaller towns, “garden cities” and villages were able to handle and dispose wastewater in-house, so there was no need for costly sewerage system. Figure 5. The I. development stage of Angyalföld wastewater treatment plant (Source:Lesenyei 1940) Most of the cities utilised the storm-sewer network to manage wastewater. However, these sewers rarely discharged into treatment plants, more frequently the nearest stream or river received their load, without treatment. The country had 15 wastewater treatment plants altogether, most of them only with mechanical pre-treatment, according to today’s terms (Fig. 5). Concerning the years just before World War II, there were 120 towns and cities with more than 10 000 inhabitants in the country. Thereof 12 had only storm-sewer network and 26 had sewerage system. Altogether 4.17 million people lived in these cities and 2.25 million people enjoyed the „luxury” of wastewater collection. Looking at the whole country, at around 20% of the population accessed sewerage systems. The total length of the sewers was 1 781 km, thereof 105 km was used exclusively for wastewater. The five years of World War II changed many things. The plans under development stage were never implemented, the investments that had already begun have been completed only partially or not at all. After 1945 the territory, population, political and social structures of the country changed. The most important tasks after the war were clean-up and securing provisions for everyday life. WASTEWATER COLLECTION AND TREATMENT AFTER WORLD WAR II In the first three years after the war the reconstruction of public utilities had begun, simultaneously with repairing damages caused by bombings and artillery, reconstructing blown up roads, bridges and railways, Only in Budapest the pipe was caved in at 153 locations and 60 km pipe was plugged. The bombing destroyed the central pumping station as well^/g. 6). Significant part of the former employees scattered, so new workers had to be hired and trained. The bigger cities in the country suffered similar damages. Figure 6. War damages (1944-45) (Source: Budapest csatornázása: Pest város 1847. évi csatornázási szabályrendeletének 125 éves évfordulójára 1972) One of the first measures was the new institutional framework set up. As a cornerstone of this process public property status of water and establishment of a unified water service were declared in the Constitution. In 1948, under the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Water Management Authority was formed. Scope of duties of this organisation included technical aspects and licensing of drinking water supply and sewerage systems, while the Ministry of Social Welfare was responsibility for public health issues. Every waterworks, wastewater collection systems and wastewater treatment plants were placed under state supervision, in order to provide operation based on the
