Hidrológiai Közlöny, 2017 (97. évfolyam)
2017 / 3. szám - MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS - FLOOD PROTECTION EXPERIENCES AND COOPERATION IN THE DANUBE RIVER BASIN - Bálint Márton Zoltán: Multilateral efforts towards basin flood control along the Tisza River: The Hungarian-Ukrainian joint Upper-Tisza flood development program
74 logical, water management and water quality reports are organically linked to it as well (Hungarian-Ukrainian joint Upper-Tisza flood development program 2013). The current Hungarian-Ukrainian transboundary Convention provides the necessary conditions to prevent a flood catastrophe, in a way that is not only valid for the closed proximity of the border sections, but for the whole catchment. With this the collaborating parties commit themselves that they will consult in advance with one- another regarding all water management interventions affecting the transboundary area or the catchment (FET! VÍZIG 2017). The spatial scope of the Convention also prevails in the hydrometeorological and water management regulations, which are directly linked to the transboundary water Convention, which also requires a flood forecasting system on the whole Ukrainian Upper-Tisza catchment supporting daily data and information exchange (FETIV1ZIG 2017). The transboundary Hungarian-Ukrainian Convent currently effective was the first transboundary Convent after the change of regime, which took into account international recommendations, as it refers to the UNECE document “Convention on the protection and use of transboundary watercourses and international lakes” accepted in Helsinki 16 Marci 1992, and the document “Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube River” signed in Sophia 29 June 1994 (ENP1 HUSKROUA/0901/044 project 2013). The Hungarian-Ukrainian joint Upper-Tisza flood development program raises the transboundary water cooperation to a higher professional level, by coordinating the future joint tasks needed to build up flood protection against the commonly defined and accepted design flood level. With this the cooperating parties can optimize the development costs and both parties will have the same level of flood protection. Hidrológiai Közlöny (Hungarian Journal of Hydrology) 2017. 97. évf. 3. sz. Figure 2. The equivalent resistance locations of the flood levee. Because of the joint flood protection systems, only a joint development can be efficient In the past decade, for the development of the foundations of the system, national development plans have been prepared and launched. In Hungary the “Development of the Upper-Tisza region flood protection system” and the “Further development of the Vásárhelyi plan”, while in Ukraine the “Complex flood protection program of the Carpathian catchment of the Tisza River 2006- 2015” [Figure 2). THE SPECIFIC PROJECT ELEMENTS OF THE JOINT UPPER-TISZA FLOOD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM The primary location affected by the transboundary cooperation, the joint flood development plan and the ENPI project is the North-Eastern part of the Upper-Tisza, where 4 countries share the river catchment: Hungary, Ukraine, Slovakia and Romania. The immediate area affected by the project covers roughly 4000 km2. This is the area where harmonization is needed in the flood development plans, as well as coherent intervention measures. For sufficient and successful flood protection, a constant cooperation and collaboration between the 4 effected countries is inevitable and necessary. Taking a brief look at the hydrological regime of the river we can see that the water level alteration on the Upper-Tisza region can be 10-12 meters, the long term average flow of the river is 217 m3/s at Tiszabecs and 400 m3/s at Záhony, while the flood peak discharge can be above 4000 m3/s and the end of summer discharge can be under 50 m3/s, so we can see that the flood discharge is more than 80 times that of the low water discharge (FETIVIZIG and VIZITERV Consult Kft. 2004). Trend analysis also shows that the peak water levels in the past
