Hidrológiai Közlöny 1971 (51. évfolyam)

1. szám - Breinich Miklós: A vízminőség szerepe a vízgazdálkodásban

Hidrológiai Közlöny 1971. 1. sz. 3 The role of water quality in water management* BREINICH, MIKLÓS Vice President, National Water Authority Before a similar group of reputed and recognised experts, it may appear superfluous to mention the steady growth in the demand for water all over the World and the fact that even in countries with favourable hydrological and geohydrological conditions scientists and engineers, the experts dealing with such problems are faced with increasing difficiüties when attempting to meet these demands. At the same time, the rapidly increasing pollution of waters not only makes the problems more severe, but presents a menace to the very existence of humanity, to the conditions of humán life. There seems to be a grave contradiction in present days between Man and his environment. Until recently, Hungary disposed of considerable available underground water recources, moreover the surface waters were alsó fairly pure. However, as a consequence of intensive industrialization, the intensification of agriculture and large scale housing development, the more readily accible esesources have been exhausted and supplies become increasingly difficult to produce. At the same rate as good quality underground recources are depleted, increasing reliance must be made on surface waters as sources of supply. As a consequence of industrial development, the process of urbanisation and the spreading use of chemicals in agriculture, these become increasingly polluted, and the pollution entering the country is alsó considerable. Excessive and continuous wastes discharges are of an adverse effect on the natural process of self purification. Water quality problems have thus turnéd into the most pressing ones in water management. Observations and surveys on the quantitative changes of water resources have become routine practice several decades ago, whereas regular observations and processing of data on changes in the quality of surface water have been introduced during the last few years only. There is, however, an extraordinarily rapid development in this youngest special branch of water management. Quality management of waters has been introduced and established by now. The quantitative items of the water balance have been supplemented by data on water quality and all means of control * In the absence of Mr. I. Dégen, Deputy Secretary of State, President of the National Water Authority, the adress was delivered by Mr. M. Breinich. Vice-President. are available by which the quality of waters can be influenced. This is the very field, where water- and wastes treatmcnt become closely interrelated, where the extent of wastes treatment plays a decisive role and where both engineering and cost-benefit analyses must be performed before deciding on the necessary and economical extent of wastes treatment and water purification at the different facilities within individual river systems. The papers on water quality and water treatment submitted to the conference reflect strikingly the fact, that close cooperation between theory and practice in both engineering and natural sciences is necessary to recognise the regularities underlying the wide variety of phenomena and processes and to trace the changes thereof. For example, the yield obtainable from wells has been estimated formerly exclusively on the basis of hydraulics, and this has been relied upon to describe the processes taking place in filters. The great importance of physical-chemical, biological and biochemical processes for the development of phenomena, is clearly appreciated by now. Operating experiences gained with the increasing number of pipe-lines, have positively demonstrated that besides considerations of hydraulics and energetics, the deisgn of water supply pipelines is controlled alsó by the influence on quality of the time for which the water is stored in the pipeline. It may be regarded as a növel, and welcome feature, that applied mathematics have been introduced to the field of water quality management. This is the language to which the regularities underlying phenomena and processes are most expediently translated. However, mathematics are used not only for establishing relationships from the wealth of information and observation data, or for determining engineering and economic optima, but successfull attempts may be recorded alsó towards the computerized simulation of treatment processes involving a large number of variables. From the trend of future development it may be concluded that the construction of major treatment plants will be preceeded not only by pilot plants at the site, but alsó by mathematical programming studies in order to find the most appropriate treatment technology.