Vízügyi Közlemények, 1993 (75. évfolyam)

4. füzet - Karászi Kálmán: Magyarország vízügyi politikájáról

350 Karászi Kálmán nyek pedig mennyiségben és minőségben változnak, ebből is eredő szükségszerűség a vízügyi politikának időről időre történő felülvizsgálata, és ennek nyomán az indokolt kiigazítások elvégzése. * * * On the water management policy of Hungary by Kálmán KARÁSZI СЕ. In the development of the water management policy of any country geographical and other natural (hydrological) conditions play the decisive role, in addition to given social and economic conditions and to the intention of the government. This is especially true for I lungary, which is located in the bottom of the Carpathian Basin, mostly on flat-land area. Л great part of the drainage basins of natural streams lies outside the country border, consequently the discharge, the quality and in general the "usefulness" of Hungarian rivers depend strongly on the water management of the so called upstream countries. These and other factors make the country's water management defenseless to external effects and conditions. (Scarce water resources, sensitivity to floods, droughts and excess water inundations. Water management activities are carried out in function of these factors and they affect the society as a whole and all branches of the country' economy. The main direction of these activities, the objectives, the priorities and the parties involved, as well as the conditions of implementation (ownership, organization, sharing of duties) are outlined by the water management policy, in accordance with the policies of other sectors of the national economy. The water management policy of Hungary has to deal with three main tasks: - the assessment of the state of water resources and the conditions of the water industry; - the definition of the objectives of water management policy; - examination of the possibilities of implementation. The author characterizes the conditions of Hungarian water management with several data, such as: 95% of the runoff water of Hungary originates from abroad; 52% of the country's territory is prone to flood and excess water hazards; Ground water resources amount to about 5% of the Country's total water resource, while 90% of the drinking water supply is based on ground water resources; There is a large gap (called the public utility scissors) between the level of water supply (94%) and that of sewerage and sewage treatment (54%) which results in the deterioration of water quality; The total length of flood levees is 4,220 km while that of the excess water drainage canals is 39,000 km. The cost of a characteristic flooding event (the inundation of an area called the "flood basin") is in the range of 30-180 thousand million HUF, while the annual total excess water damage amounts to 5-6 milliard HUF. The basic objective of the water management policy is, eventually, the meeting of the society's present and future water demands in the possible most rational manner. In the period of transition to market economy many changes are expected which have significant effects on the water management. The most important ones of these changes relate to the privatization of various sectors of the water industry. Nevertheless the basic objectives of water management, according to which water management activities should be governed by the needs of the society, shall remain unaltered in the changing economic and political conditions. In defining the conditions of achievement of the objectives ownership conditions should be harmonized with the allocation of water management tasks and the ways and means of the most rational