Árvízvédelem, folyó- és tószabályozás, víziutak Magyarországon (OVH, Budapest, 1978)

D) Víziutak - Idegen nyelvű összefoglaló

REVIEW

Dezső Kovács

The compilation entitled Flood control, regulation of rivers and lakes, waterways in Hungary is essentially a manual. Its structure and contents are determined by the fact that, on the one hand, the activities of these conventional specialized branches are closely interrelated as regards their character and objectives and, on the other hand, within the pattern of water administration of Hungary they are supervised by a single special controlling unit, a department. With respect to these facts the main chapters of the book are:

A) Flood control

B) River training

C) Regulation of lakes

D) Waterways

The first part of chapter titled Flood control deals with the hydrology of flood control. It gives a review on the weather conditions inducing floods in Hungary, and describes the characteristic types of floods on the rivers and the domestic methods and development trends of flood forecasting. The methods of flood estimation actually used here and expected to become of interest in the future are presented.

In the next part of this chapter the flood control system in Hungary, the development and present state thereof is described. In this country the development of flood control works, as presently understood has started in the second half of the last century — although some local levees were built earlier, too — and is still in progress. In general flood control development between the early 1850’s and the late 1930’s has served mainly the reclamation of the flood plains, i.e. flood control proper, whereas the main objective of the works after the 1930’s was the reinforcement and improvement of the existing levees, to increase thus the flood safety in the areas already reclaimed. Parallel to these flood control has been extended to additional, minor areas as well.

The degree of safety provided by the flood control system of the country at a given date in the past is rather difficult to determine because development was carried out by flood control associations. According to approximate estimates, after liberation (specifically in 1948) the nationalized flood control system — providing protection to some 90 per cent of the flood plains in the country — consisted of structures which were suited to prevent floods occurring once in 50 years on the average.

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