Hungary drained its waters for generations. Now drought is exposing the cost

Gárdony, Hungary experienced record low water levels in Lake Velence last week, forcing fishermen to navigate steep docks. This is the first annual payment, billed at $205.00 plus GST for one year, with automatic renewal at $233.00 plus GST every 52 weeks. The lake's water level has dropped to around 20 centimeters, well below the 150 centimeters optimal for August.

Swimming beaches, once popular with tourists, have been closed. Lake Velence's decline is part of a broader water crisis in Hungary, exacerbated by prolonged droughts and climate change-driven heat waves.

Experts attribute Hungary's vulnerability to prolonged droughts to the country's long-standing practice of channeling water away from its landscape and draining natural wetlands. Around 99% of Hungary's lands are currently under severe or extreme drought conditions, and desertification threatens much of the Great Hungarian Plain.

More than a quarter of Hungary consists of low-lying land that naturally retains precipitation, but centuries of drainage have left the country with little freshwater resources. A 2023 study found that Hungary has lost over 80% of its historical wetlands.

The drying out of Hungary isn't limited to streams and wetlands. Lake Garancsi, a popular recreational lake near Budapest, has shrunk so dramatically that none of its previous activities are permitted and most of its former lake bed is now exposed and dry. Zoltán Mettner, who runs a bar on the lake's shores, expressed his disappointment at the lake's state, saying "it's sad enough that we've let things get this far."

Hungary's new government has promised to realign water management practices, shifting from a drainage-based approach to one focused on water retention.