Vízügyi Közlemények, 1995 (77. évfolyam)

4. füzet - Szlávik L.-Reich Gy.: A vízügyi szolgálat helyzete és feladatai

Gondolatok a vízügyi szolgálat helyzetéről és feladatairól 419 VITUKI: A magyar vízgazdálkodás az ezredforduló küszöbén. Elemző tanulmány, szerkesztette: dr. Hankó Zoltán. Témaszám: 711/5/2861, VITUKI, Budapest, 1994a. VITUKI: Magyarország vízgazdálkodása az ezredfordulón. ( )VF K+F téma jelentés, (Kézirat), 1994b. * * * State and tasks of water management in Hungary by Dr. L. SZLÁVIK and G. REICH. Civil Engineers In the light of the new situation which was created by the enactment of the new Water Act on water management (Act No LVII of 1995) the authors summarize the experiences of the national water management and the tasks of the state in this field, also evaluating the scope and field of competence of the present system of water management organization, future U'ends of development and tasks to be solved are also presented in the light of the new Water Act. Sharing of tasks of the water management by various groups of the society has a century long tradition in Hungary. Since 1990 there have been substantial changes which necessitate the redistribution of the former "paternal" role of the state in water management. The most important clement of these changes was the enactment of the new Water Act on Water Management. Several legal regulations have been reformed within which the fulfilling of the duties of local water management was put to the "right place" with the new "package of law on the local governments". Anomalies in sharing the work have been appearing in the same time between the ministries of water management (KIIVM) and the environmental protection (KTM). Namely, some of the tasks, mainly those of the qualitative and quantitative protection of water resources, were unjustly given to KTM. „ Legal regulations of ownership conditions relevant to water management have (as means of performing duties of public interest and objective) also been issued. Rearrangement of ownership rights and duties is, however, being realized rather slowly. 'I'his concerns mainly the following fields: The local governments became the owners of public utilities. The transfer of ownership of several properties that also belong to public water utilities (such as establishments of flood defence, small water courses, channels of man made canals, etc) is still waiting for implementation due to the lack of appropriate financial conditions. Regulations do not provide for the conditions of association type ownership of water establishments that serve public interests. In making the law the preconception was that the financial strength of interested parties has not yet been secured. In course of the reorganization of district water authorities the exccss financial capacity, which would be needed for operating state owned public utilities, has been reduced with the main objective of promoting private enterprise in the field of the provision of these services. Activities of the central water administration, acting as authority, had been organized for catchment basins. It is a well established system and should be preserved along with its logical and objective oriented structure and organization. Since 19^)0, however, two organizations perform the central role of the state: the district water authorities and, in respect to matters of water quality, the environmental inspectorates. Regarding the activities of monitoring and information transfer, needed for supporting water management authorities, the operation of water quality laboratories must not necessarily rely on the central state budget but can be transferred to associations serving public interests. On the local-government level of the public water administration the body or organ with regulating function between consumer and supplier (as an organ serving the interests of the consu-