Sustainable Solutions
21 May 2019
The design and implementation of complex water engineering solutions for developing countries has always been and still is a distinguished area of Hungary’s international cooperation. Hungarian experts have several success stories from over the years in providing solutions in – amongst others – water management, well drilling and in irrigation.
Between 1975 and 1990 experts of the former Water Resources Management Center (VIKOZ, later VGI) together with Mongolian partners prepared the Water Management Master Plan of Mongolia and the regional master plans for the following basins: Mongolian Great Lakes, River Khovd, River Dzabhan, River Kherlen (Kerulen), Ongijn, Taats and Baidrag rivers. The Mongolian Parliament appraised this activity as “Project of the Century” even many years after the Hungarian experts finished their projects. In connection with this excellent evaluation the Hungarian – Mongolian Water Management Cooperation Agreement was renewed in 2008.
Hungarian specialists worked in African and Asian countries as FAO, WMO and WHO experts.
One of the prominent personalities of well drilling was Vilmos Zsigmondy (1821–1888) who in the second half of the 19th century drilled a well in Budapest (City Park) that was the second largest well in Europe that time. The well, which was 970 meters deep and had a capacity of 2,200 litres per hour at 74 C°, was considered something of a sensation.
Hungarian hydrologists and engineers had by 1980, assisted Mongolia in solving water problems on the steppe. Hungarian engineers and hydrologists trained and worked closely with Mongolian young professionals. By 1970, 225 new wells had been drilled to a depth of 100–200 metres. In connection with water prospecting, they executed geophysical exploration on 21,000 km2.
In the 1970s Hungarian experts provided help in Vietnam and in Mongolia, installing MA-200 type irrigation equipment (in Mongolia all over the country about 150 pumping plants, in Vietnam in the Ba Vi irrigation system). They provided training for the local population and service for maintaining the installed irrigation capacities.
In Morocco in the frame of international, technical and scientific cooperation, Hungarian experts were involved in the construction of the irrigation systems (River Moulouya and Rabat Region). From the 1980s Hungarian consultants (VIZITERV and MELYEPTERV) took part in different irrigation projects in Algeria and Tunesia (irrigation of palm groves), in Yemen (Tihama and Taiz projects), in Sudan (Djebel Marra Project), in Iran (Gorgan Valley).
Emil Mosonyi (1910–2009) was one of the biggest Hungarian experts in this field. His name, as an engineer of hydraulics, is connected to dams and hydro power plants around the world. He was honorary professor at a number of universities and a member of various science academies. The University of Auckland in New Zealand established the Mosonyi prize to honour his work in the field of sustainable hydro power development.
The brochure of Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency is available for download here: “The Hungarian Water and Sanitation Industry in the 21st century”
S-Metalltech 98 Ltd founded in 1998 works on one hand as a R&D workshop for universities and industrial companies and on the other hand as a manufacturing base of special materials applied in the field of environmental protection, electrical industry, automotive industry and nuclear reactor technology – cooperating with many of home and foreign partners.
The Public Relations Directorate of the University of Szeged has announced that a system for forecasting precipitation and flash floods is being implemented in the Hungarian–Serbian border region. The project will provide valuable assistance for preventing damage in the future.
The water crisis – that is the theme of the year’s most important event in Hungarian diplomacy, the Budapest Water Summit to be held on 15-17 October. Water shortages and the severe pollution of water resources are hazards that many hundreds of millions of people face – preventing the catastrophe is everyone’s shared task and responsibility.
The Sustainable Development Goals – adopted in the Summit of Prime Ministers and Heads of State between 25 and 27 September 2015 – are based on the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
It is a necessity to pay more attention to the ever increasing pollution of the waters. Conventional waste water treatments are not suitable to remove all the incoming pollutants in the treatment plants. That is the reason why Nyírségvíz Zrt. has started a development program.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have produced a water management manual based on the principles of green infrastructure. The purpose of the publication is to popularise the solutions, and to present efficient and sustainable projects already in operation that use green or hybrid (traditional – gray and natural – green) infrastructural solutions in the field of water management.
There is no life without water – this is an unquestionable truth for everybody, but has anyone ever thought of the fact that without water there is no development, either? Talking either about the basic fact that water is essential for the development of plants, or the ingenious inventions of later ages, we have to admit that water significantly determines our lives.
The purpose of the document entitled Groundwater Governance – A Global Framework for Action is to make the importance of sustainable groundwater governance clear to political decision-makers.
At the global level, three of every four jobs are related to water in some way. The 2016 World Water Development Report examines the links between water and jobs, employment and economic development. The key findings of the report are summarised below.
