Károlyi Zsigmond - Nemes Gerzson: Szolnok és a Közép-Tiszavidék vízügyi múltja III. rész, A vízgazdálkodás eredményei 1945-1975-ig. (Vízügyi Történeti Füzetek 10. Budapest, 1976)
6. Összefoglalás (Tanulságok és feladatok)
The difficulties of reconstruction and the voluntarist tendencies in the economic policy have, however, guided development towards objectives and at a pace, which proved economically and technically unsound and unfounded. Nonetheless, the work inspired by the longawaited possibility to achieve the old projects yielded significant results, even in spite of the distrubing elements. The work of the water service was always flexibly adjusted to the requirements and tasks as they arose and provided the appropriate conditions for their solution. Of the major technical innovations of the transition peroid mention must be made of the mobile pumps (Kienitz pumps) that proved indispensable in both land drainage and irrigation; of the introduction of floating diversions (1948); and the use of the Kund — type trenching plough in the construction of irrigation plants. The overloading of the drainage network, which was used also for irrigation (i. e. the delay of the separation of the two systems), and rice growing as monoculture tor the utilization of alkali soil areas, has, however, soon slowed down the pace of development. In spite of the practical errors, the early stage of irrigation development has positively demonstrated that no economic evolution of the region is possible without the most widespread use of irrigation farming. Simultaneously, the need of developing also the traditonal form of fish pond farming to utilize the conditions of the area in a highly reasonable manner, for the retention of excess runoff and for the storage of irrigation water has been generally recognized. (Up to 1975, 25 fish ponds have been established with a total area of 1,884 hectares.) The development of agricultural water utilization, first of all of irrigation, as wells as of water resources management in the area has been made possible by the largest and most significant project not only in the canalization of the Tisza River, but also in the entire Hungarian water management, namely the Kisköre barrage and its reservoir (Vol. 3, Fig. 54.). The storage lake above the barrage, with a surface of 127 sq.km, will provide a storage capacity of 300 and 400 million cu.m. by the end of the second- and in the ultimate stage, respectively; with its rate of flow of 144 and 175 cu.m/sec, respectively, it will supply water for round 300,000 hectares of irrigated land and 12,000 hectares of fish ponds. The barrage, is however, more than a project of purely agricultural interest, in that it contributes also to both industrial and domestic water supply. The latter contribution is an indirect one, since by meeting other demands ground waters of potable quality are liberated for domestic purposes. Thus as the most significant storage lake in this country so far, it is the first large project of new, advanced water resources management based upon storage, which offers the only workable solution under the conditions of our country. It is of extraordinary theoretical and practical importance as the starting point of regional development in the Central Tisza Region. (It will meet the water demands in the area up to the completion of the Csongrád Barrage and the Danube —Tisza—Canal.) As a multi-purpose water management project, the barrage represents a considerable progress also in the development of waterways, through extending the navigable reach of the Tisza River by 120 km. Its hydroelectric plant doubles the country's water-power utilization, and beyond improving project economics, the energy produced is very significant, especially from the local, or the regional view-point (103 million kWh/year). It is also worth mentioning that the potentialities are open for a completely new recreation area capable of accomodating 50,000 people along the 40 km long shore of the storage lake and in this context, the lake will help to solve the environmental problems of the region. Besides the development of irrigation, as well as of storage — and water resources management, the most important progress has been made in the field of public utility water supply. The expansion of water works, based on an abundant source of supply, has become an especially effective facton in the development and ,,urbanization" of Szolnok town; it is the indispensable basis for improving domestic water supply and for growing industrialization alike. The once densely populated and important Jazygian-Cumanian towns (Jászberény, Karcag, Kisújszállás, Túrkeve, etc.), which rivaled even Szolnok in size and economic significance, have gradually slowed down in development, lacking comparable sources of supply.
