The National Water Strategy aims to achieve sustainable water management, stressed Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas in Somogyvár, at the closing ceremony of the national series of forums on the discussion paper put forward on the qualitative and quantitative protection of water, and drought and water management.

The Minister listed especially important tasks as including water retention within the Carpathian Basin, protection against flooding and inland water, water storage and the preservation of water quality. These require the reconstruction, expansion and further development of flood protection systems, and the increasing of water reservoir capacities, he said.

The professional programme that will form the basis of future water management, irrigation development and drought management policy, and which will assure sustainability, will soon be finalised and should come before Parliament during the summer, the Minister announced. Now that the social debate is complete, the next step is the assessment of project requirements, and the Water Strategy that is put before the Cabinet will determine the main directions for development, he added.

This is a task comparable to the age of great river redirection, and provides work for several decades, the Minister stated, adding that the cost of realisation will be several thousand billion forints. Of the tasks ahead, he mentioned that there is a 40 thousand kilometre long system of wastewater drainage channels in Hungary, used for flood protection, irrigation or both, and their renovation and maintenance is a top priority.

EU and domestic resources make this work possible, he stated, adding that Start work has already begun and significant results may be achieved within 5-10 years. In his presentation, the Ministry of Rural Development's Deputy State Secretary for Water Péter Kovács emphasised that the Ministry had developed a strategy that aims at serving the interests of society based on a certain level of consensus.

The Strategy aims at finding answers to the issues that affect everybody, he said, specifically mentioning the questions of whether we will have enough water in the future, do we manage available water with sufficient success, how we can assure demand for water from agriculture and prevent flooding. The State Secretary said that to realise the objectives laid down in the National Water Strategy, it is important to increase the state's role in the asset management of water-related facilities, in improving the condition of water utilities, in conforming to European Union regulations and in assuring the availability of the required funding.

Péter Kovács stressed the importance of drawing down the highest possible level of European Union funding, as objectives and tasks for three planning periods had been included in the Strategy in consideration of this level of funding. The first objective, until 2014, is the completion of water management work already in progress and planning for the upcoming EU financial period. In the second period, until 2021, the task is the exploitation of the highest possible level of funding made available by the European Union, while by the third period until 2027, according to plans an already stable water management system would be able to utilise available EU funding as efficiently as possible.

Vice-President of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, Food Economy and Rural Development Miklós Zsolt Kis said that it was important that water management operators play an active role in developing the Strategy. State-level regulation and supervision in water management must be asserted and stressed, he said, emphasising also that the state must play a role in clarifying ownership of water management facilities and in the development of a suitable system of financing.

(MTI)