Holló Szilvia Andrea: Budapest's Public Works - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

Natural or artificial?

was withdrawn. Eventually, the factory was set up on Csepel Island, where production started in 1972. The director was formally reprimanded for the construction, whereas for securing reliable water supplies to the capital he was awarded the Pro Urbe Prize. In the following years water provision became more evenly distributed, although owing to the low rates, there was once again a great deal of waste.

The most pressing issue of the 1970s and 1980s was environmental pollution, which is why several smaller wells on the outskirts had to be phased out or turned to industrial use. New wells were sunk into the soil of Szentendre Island and Csepel Island, but as iron and manganese were detected in the water extracted at the latter location, the Ráckeve waterworks was installed equipped with water-treatment facilities. Simultaneous with the burgeoning of the city’s housing estates and the growth of Budapest’s built-up areas, was the building of the new lift stations, reservoirs, and water towers (Rákosszentmihály, Pestszentlőrinc, Budafok, Békásmegyer, Őrmező, Csepel). The existing system was modernised: the three mains pressurising units were reconstructed (Káposztásmegyer, Békásmegyer, Csepel), the surface waterworks were enlarged, and a whole series of network extensions was opened with the laying of the No. IV main between Káposztásmegyer and Liberty Bridge. The construction of the 40 thousand cubic metre reservoir in the Gellért Hill was undoubtedly among the most important investments made in the period. Due to these large-scale developments, drinking water production reached 341 million cubic metres in 1992.

■ The awe-inipiring interior of the Gellért Hill reservoir

64