http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0830-03.htm
Published on Saturday,
August 30, 2003 by The Scotsman
Global Warming
Alarm Over Hungary's Shrinking Lake
by Ian Geoghegan at Lake Balaton
[ See
map of Lake Balaton here... ]
LAKE BALATON, Hungary - Lake Balaton, central Europe's biggest
fresh water lake and one of Hungary's main tourist attractions,
is shrinking, prompting warnings of a potential ecological and
economic catastrophe.
For the first time
since records began in 1865, four consecutive
hot summers and low annual rainfall have sucked millions of
gallons (cubic liters) of water from the lake, exposing large
mudflats and forcing holiday makers to walk far out into the
lake before they can swim.
One legend has it that
a young girl sits weeping in a church
in the center of the lake, her tears the source of water for
one of central Europe's favorite family and recreational resorts.
Maybe she's stopped
crying, but scientists, preferring a more
pragmatic theory, blame the falling water levels on global
warming, and warn that such rapid climate change could devastate
Balaton's tourism-dependent economy in the decades to come.
Hungary's leftist government,
battling to get the economy
in shape to join the European Union next May, has asked
scientists to prepare an advisory report on the Balaton
by October.
Balaton, 160 km (100
miles) south of Budapest, covers
600 sq km (231 square miles). Once a summer retreat for
the Austro-Hungarian empire's elite, it was a favored
meeting point for East and West Germans when communism
restricted international travel.
With its warm, shallow
waters, picturesque villages, thermal
spas and sloping vineyards, the lake attracts several million
tourists each year and accounts for over five percent of GDP.
But this blazing summer
has been particularly hard.
JEWEL
Hungary's wheat crop
is down by a third and the Danube,
a key freight artery, is at its lowest levels in parts
for over a century. Summer temperatures have been some
four degrees Celsius above the 100-year average.
All this is hitting
the jewel in Hungary's tourism crown.
Iren Heinzl, who has
maintained a small holiday home
on Balaton's southern shore for over 40 years, is at a
loss to explain how the lake has receded so rapidly this year.
"Over the last
four years, the lake's been getting smaller
but, since May, I've been shocked to see what's been going on.
Maybe in a few years it'll be like Africa here," she said.
Long wooden jetties
that used to stretch from shore side
gardens into the lake now stand awkward and exposed, ending
abruptly hundreds of meters (yards) short of the lake.
"No one seems
to know why this is happening. I hope the
scientists are working on this as it's not just a local
problem but one for the whole of Europe."
Some local businesses
blame Hungary's media for helping
fan the talk of crisis at Balaton, with reports of high
prices and poor service, as well as the lower water levels.
Many Hungarians have
opted this year to go to neighboring
Croatia's Adriatic coast, but Balaton's bar and cafe owners
predict they will return once they have compared prices.
At Balatonfenyves,
another small lakeside resort, large
mud banks have appeared around 100 meters (328 feet) offshore.
Families play soccer
in ankle-deep water where previously
they would have been able to swim.
Lack of action by the
authorities has fueled a mood
of anger and frustration among the thousands of small
businesses that eke out a summer living from the mainly
German, Austrian and local holiday makers.
Some want an immediate
remedy, with fresh water brought
in to top up the lake, though many are aware of warnings
that this could disturb Balaton's delicate ecological balance.
Others want a more
inspired marketing campaign, moving on
from the decades-old sales pitch of Hungary as the land of
goulash, paprika and merry gypsy folk music.
Tibor Reti, whose parents
have run a small lakeside cafe
for 21 years, said they had had enough and were packing up
to leave.
"Business this
season is down by 50 percent. There's no future
for us here at Balaton unless something is done about the
water levels," he said.
A stone's throw away,
another business is closing down,
its giant water slide standing idle. Where it used to plunge
into the lake, its spout now hangs in mid-air, meters above
dry mud.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Balaton, itself a result
of climate change at the end of the
last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago, is fed by rainfall and
the Zala river in the south -- home to unique bird life
which is under threat if the lake continues to dry up.
When full, the lake
is drained through the Sio-Canal further
north. Some water is normally removed this way each year,
but it is now 38 months since those sluice gates were last
opened.
Miklos Zagoni, science
historian at Budapest University,
said Balaton, as a shallow lake with an average depth of
little more than three meters (10 feet), is an accurate
gauge of climate change.
"Balaton's stability
over the years shows the stability
of climate change, but the last four years shows a big turn,"
he said. "This is the fourth year Balaton has had more
evaporation than precipitation -- a typical case of climate
change.
"Statistically,
this is a very significant trend change,
and I believe it's a direct cause of global warming."
Zagoni sees no short-term
solution.
"Society as a
whole has to stop the process of climate
change. This may result in an economic versus ecological
battle, but we have to change the way we live.
"Maybe this summer,
with all the (heat wave-related) deaths
in France and fires in Portugal, will prove a turning point
and finally push politicians' minds in the right direction."
MOTHER NATURE
At his desk in Budapest,
Environment Minister Miklos Persanyi
prepares to chair a meeting of Balaton experts.
He says the government
is aware of concerns over lower
water levels, but will not take hasty and costly decisions
until the scientists have had their say.
"In the first
instance, we hope Mother Nature will cure the
problem," he said, noting it was only three years ago that
1.2 billion cubic meters of water were drained from the
lake because water levels were too high.
"We will get the
scientific reports and review the options,
the costs, the ecological and environmental implications.
But, even if we decide to add water (from nearby rivers),
this could take two to three years," he said.
Persanyi noted there
was a global decline in tourism, and
some visitors may have been put off by an incident earlier
this year at Hungary's Paks nuclear plant.
The government was
also tackling Balaton's environmental
issues, while boosting its profile as a central European
haven for wine lovers, anglers, cyclists and health spas.
"Yes, there are
problems for some in the tourist industry,
but maybe the water level is not the most important,"
he said.
"Balaton remains
one of our natural treasures."
Copyright 2003 Reuters
Limited
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