Buza Péter: Spring and Fountains - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)
poison, they were always regarded by communities as well suited for regular consumption as spring water. Neither shall we review the streams crossing Budapest and its region. The rate of water flow in these rivulets is so low that few people know their names outside the immediate vicinity of their beds in which they trickle towards the Danube unnoticed, as if ashamed of their abused, impoverished and neglected condition. On the right bank there is the Arany-hegyi Brook, the stream of Ördögárok [Devil’s Ditch], and the Kőér Brook; on the left bank flow the Palota (or Szilas) Brook, the Rákos Brook, and the Gyál Water, also known as the Nagymocsár [Large Marsh] Ditch. What is far more important, however, are the springs welling up in the region of Budapest. As we go from south to north, the springs become increasingly cold. Waters springing up in Budafok are 60° C warm, while the temperature of those in Albertfalva is 48° C, and that of the springs of the Gellért and Rudas Baths is around 40-44° C. The Lukács and Császár Baths (the latter also known as Komjádi Swimming Pool) are supplied by more than a dozen springs with waters of varying temperature. For example, the water of Római Spring wells up at a temperature of 19-20° C, while that of Boltív [Arch] Spring at 21-23° C. The Király Spring, which is now out of operation, yielded, in Turkish times, 40-42° C water, which was already conveyed by pipes to what is today the Király Baths. The water of natural springs has been supplemented and mixed with the water yielded by drilled wells, as the 45-50° C water of the Antal Well, sunk 41 metres into the ground. The temperature of the water yielded by the abandoned István Well was around 60° C. Today pipes convey the nearly 70° C water of the Magda Well in Margaret Island to where it is used. The water temperature in Óbuda is 19-20° C, that at Római Baths 21-22° C, like the temperature of the springs at Csillaghegy, while the Pünkösd Well’s temperature is 24-25° C. The Attila Spring in Békásmegyer yields 19° C water. (As the exact temperature of a spring depends on the level of water in the Danube and other factors, a fluctuation of a few degrees can frequently occur.) We have already discussed the waters of Római fürdő, which provided the major basis for the water supply system in Aquincum. Our famous thermal springs and wells have a daily water output of several ten million litres, and there is no doubt that this peerless geological attraction has greatly contributed to the world-wide renown of Budapest. The massive layer of rock which forms the hills of Buda drops, forced by a huge fault line, deep below the surface before reaching the bed of the Danube. Cinder the houses on the Pest side the Triassic layers of limestone and dolomite are 6
