Magyar News, 1993. szeptember-1994. augusztus (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1994-07-01 / 11-12. szám
CONDEMN THE DAMNED DAM THE DANUBE CAN BE RESTORED BEFORE THE END OF THIS YEAR The dangerously cracked concrete walls The April 22,1994 edition of the news program 24 Hours on Hungarian Television featured a report on Béla Lipták, Director of the Foundation for the Hungarian Environment who had just completed a tour of the area affected by the unilateral diversion of the Danube by Slovakia. Mr. Lipták, whose organization has members in 15 countries, urged voters in Hungary to cast their ballots only for those parties that promise to work for the restoration of the Danube to its natural riverbed from the present, accident-ridden concrete shipping canal that has wreaked havoc with the environment in its vicinity in both Hungary and Slovakia. The Gabcikovo dam, in operation since the unilateral diversion, in October of 1992 of the Danube, whose natural riverbed forms the border between Slovakia and Hungary, has resulted in a dramatic drop in water tables that in turn caused the gradual death of vegetation and wildlife in surrounding areas. As a result of poor construction and inept management, the dam itself has been plagued with accidents that interrupted international shipping on several occasions. Starting his tour on the Hungarian side, Mr. Lipták first visited the Nagymaros site, once planned as the Hungarian site for The damaged gate is rendered unuseable. the communist-planned Gabcikovo- Nagymaros dam system whose construction was aborted by the post-communist Hungarian government. He noted that the restoration of the site to its original condition has hardly begun, even though the continued existence of the diversion channel may give Slovakia the impression that the next government will complete construction of the project roundly denounced by environmentalists. A Difficult Border Crossing When Mr. Lipták and his group, accompanied by a TV crew attempted to cross into Slovakia at Komamo, the Slovak authorities denied them entry, apparently to avoid the embarrassment of their filming the dam and the adjacent shipping channel where the latest shipping accident made the S lovak-built locks inoperable for weeks. The group eventually crossed the border at another point, this time on the pretext of a dinner invitation by a Slovak priest as the reason for their visit. At Gabcikovo they found river traffic at a total standstill. One of the two locks, shattered by the pressure on the upstream side was undergoing extensive repairs. The other lock suffered major damage when a Ukrainian vessel was allowed to enter the chamber before the water level reached operating height. The ship hit the underwater concrete structure and was impaled on the sharp points designed to break up the ice in winter. According to official reports, the ship’s captain prompdy hanged himself. When the wreck was finally removed, it was so ineptly done that the lock itself was damaged in die process. Problems at Gabcikovo The Gabcikovo dam itself is in poor shape. Itsconcretc walls are showing cracks, the steel is rusting, leaking water is washing out the foundations. Cracked sidewalks and tilting lampposts are telling signs of settling. When the project was built, pouring of the concrete was done on a stop-and-go, one-day-at-a-time basis instead of continuously. The cracks showing up clearly indicate where each day’s work had ended and the next day’s began. The whole facility is in need of total rehabilitation. The time needed for a thorough rehabilitation—requiring draining of the entire system while repairs are carried out—should also be used to raise the height of the levees at Dunakiliti on the Hungarian side, thereby elevating the water level there to the same height as in the shipping channel. With the (continued on page 2)
