Hidrológiai Közlöny, 2016 (96. évfolyam)

2016 / 3. szám - HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT - Papp Mária - Ritvayné Szomolányi Mária - Szalay Miklós - Nagy-Kovács Zsuzsanna Ágnes: Water supply in Hungary

Mária Papp et al: Water Supply in Hungary

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km and that of the sewage system was 12 500 km. 74% of homes were connected to the public water supply network and 42.5% to the sewage system. By 1990, 83% of homes were connected to the public water supply network and by the end of the millennium, their ratio reached 90.8% (Fig. 8).

Figure 7. Number of settlements in Hungary without drinking water appropriate to public health requirements,1995-2011 (Source: KSH - Hungarian Central Statistical Office)

In Budapest, their ratio is over 98%, and in other cities it is nearly 95%, which means that the difference in supply between types of communities has decreased significantly. Today, over 85% of homes in villages are also connected to the public water supply network and their ratio exceeds 82% even in villages smaller than 200 inhabitants (KPMG and MA VÍZ 2015).

Figure 8. Utility gap -2011

(Note: Közép: Middle; Magyarország: Hungary; Dunántúl; Transda- nubia; Nyugat: West; Dél: South; Alföld: Plain Blur bar: % of residential homes connected to public water supply system; Red bar: % of residential homes connected to sewerage network;

Source: KSH - Hungarian Central Statistical Office)

Besides supplying the capital city, the Metropolitan Waterworks provides the water supply of European standards for a further 21 communities around Budapest. Currently, there are more than 700 drinking water wells in operation on Szentendrei Island, Csepel Island, Margaret Island and along both banks of the Danube, which can provide up to 1.2 million mJ/d of drinking water.

Changing water consumption of the population

Compared to the end of the 1980s, water consumption has decreased by about 50%. The reasons for this are a change in the consumption habits of the population and the increase of tariffs.

In Hungary, a person uses 90 litres of water a day on average. However, data vary according to the size and the extent of the supply in a given community (Fig. 9). Today, the average daily consumption is 150-160 litres per person in Budapest, 120-130 litres in other cities and 50- 70 litres in villages (Eördöghné Miklós Mária 2013).

Figure 9. Per capita annual water consumption in Hungary, [m3], (1990-2011)

(Source: KSH - Hungarian Central Statistical Office)

The organisational structure of water service providers

Before 2011, 400 service providers were in operation in Hungary. Such huge fragmentation resulted in chaotic circumstances in the water service sector.

The overwhelming majority of service providers are exclusively nationally owned and four companies are partly owned by foreign service providers with minority shares. As a consequence of legal regulations, services in the future can only be provided by water utility companies that meet the criteria laid down in EU-directives. The work of the 46 service providers that were given permission by the Hungarian Energy and Utilities Regulatory Office are continually monitored from technical- economical and legal aspects. The permissions issued are revised by the Hungarian Energy and Utilities Regulatory Office every three years. Of the companies that have been granted permission to operate, 5 are in majority state ownership, 2 are majority owned by the capital city Budapest and the remaining 39 are majority owned by municipalities (Fig. 10). The sector directly employs approximately 20 thousand staff (KPMG and MA VÍZ 2015).

Figure 10. Water utility companies in Hungary, January 2016 (Source: DRV - Transdanubian Regional Waterworks)