Holló Szilvia Andrea: Budapest's Public Works - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
Developing utilities on doctor's orders
By the late 1970s, the per-household availability of sewerage had climbed back to 80 percent, but with large-scale housing projects losing their priority status, the self- financed implementation of pipe laterals in residential areas with tenant-owned houses received an additional impetus. At that time, it was predominantly wastewater of industrial origins that posed the greatest danger to the quality of the Danube's water, and the area duly received most of the attention. To better serve the cause of water protection, the authorities prepared a comprehensive sewage conveyance and treatment programme for the capital in 1974. It was on the basis of the programme that the South Pest sewage treatment plant was given two bio-filter lines, and that a mechanical pre-treatment unit removing fat, grease and grit contents from the sewage was added to the North Pest facility and, finally, that sludge treatment was also modernised. When it came to light that neither the system development nor the capacity- increasing measures were progressing according to plan, the original conception was revised on more than one occasion. The complex, long-term action plan for the extension of the sewer system and the enhancement of wastewater treatment completed in 1992 determined what was to be done until 2015. The wave of privatisation did not leave the Budapest Sewerage Works unaffected either: the decision of partially to sell the company was taken by the general assembly on 26 September 1997. As the new proprietors sharing the ownership with Budapest’s municipality (the French company Veolia Eau and the German Berlinwasser) focussed on quality improvement, the technologies of purifying sewage and treating sludge were modernised. The South Pest facility was enabled to provide full bio-treatment to 80 thousand, while the North-Pest unit to 200 thousand cubic metres of wastewater a day including the two-phase removal of nitrogen and phosphorus contaminants. Modernisation continued after the new millennium set in; this has included the installation of sludge thickening and dehydrating centrifuges, the biogas plants were put into operation, and the gas engines generating renewable energy also started to work. The plants are virtually self-sufficient in terms of electricity and thermal power. These days a new chapter in the history of public utilities is being written. What were once private companies owned by foreign concerns and later became public property, have now been transferred, at least in part, into the ownership of international consortiums. New sources of energy to be used in street lighting are being investigated as experimentation with alternative (bio-)resources is now underway. Intent on preserving their health, large numbers of city dwellers are now buying bottled water instead of drinking tapwater. 77
