Vízügyi Közlemények, 1994 (76. évfolyam)

3. füzet - Hatfaludy B.: Múltunk, jelenünk gondjai és jövőnk feladatai a települések vízi közmű ellátásában

Múltunk, jelenünk gondjai és jövőnk feladatai a települések vízi köz;nlí ellátásában 273 Past and present problems and future tasks in the field of municipal public water utilities in Hungary by Bálint HATFALUDY, C. E. Between 1856 and 1949 the establishment of public water utilities was the task of the municipal authorities. In 1949 also the public water utilities were socialized", operated and developed in the framework of the so called council economy". In the mid-fifties the National Water Authority was established for the nation-wide management of these activities. At the time of the Cold War" development was restricted to the most essential facilities needed for complying with other tasks of the state. This was the time when the proportional development of water supply and sewerage was replaced by the water-supply oriented development, creating an ever widening gap between the two, called the public utility scissors". Starting with the early fifties public water utilities could be also developed in the framework of water management associations. Since interests of the population were mainly focused at water supply development, the activities of water associations further aggravated the situation, opening the public utility scissors. After 1960 integration of operation agencies, socialized earlier, begun, resulting in regional (council directed operative organizations and in the centralization of services: Bringing council-owned companies under the central management of the water authority regional water and sewer works have been established. Development regulations were, among others, also altered after 1968. A characteristic feature of the investments was that originally to be insufficient for meeting new actual demands and disproportionalities of the water management organization resulted in the further accelerated widening of the public utility scissors. The economic regulatory system of services was also altered in 1968 icentral agency of pricing; linear, single-parameter price system; new categories of fees and charges; government defined maximum prices and payment systems). In order to keep the prices of water utility services, payable by the population, at a constant level more and more state support was given to public services. By 1989 this state-budgetary subsidence amounted to 10 billion IIUF (approximately to 160 million USD at the exchange rate of those days). The Law LXV. of 1990 assigned responsibilities of public water supply to the local governments. In the field of the development of public water utilities the basic problems was that the principles of sharing the tasks and responsibilities between the local and central governments has not been established. In the course of transferring property ownership the established order and system of services became also eroded. Only the regional waterworks, operating public water utilities that remained in the property of the state, were able to avoid disaggregation process and they were transformed into public limited companies in 1993. The reform of the pricing system was continued: Between 1990 and 1992 the annual budgetary subsidence of public services were curtailed at an accelerating rate and then was levelling off at 1.5 billion HUF/year (approximately 15 million USD/yr at the current exchange rate), Starting with 1994 the fees of public utility services of utilities owned by the local government are being established by these governments. After 1992 the lack of strict separation of the tasks of the central and local governments caused disturbances also at the implementation of ongoing investments. (It would be desirable to transfer the responsibilities of the establishment and operation of water utilities to those interested in the services). Privatization of public water utilities remained a much disputed problem. (This is not the same