Environmental salvation of the Tisa is an international concern

Rivers in Hungary form a large and extensive network, the Myhungary.net writes. All of it belongs to the Danube basin, which crosses the country from north to south for 270 km. The Danube (Duna) is the longest river in Europe, its length is 2960 km. For many states, this river is a kind of a symbol of internationalism. The Danube from the source to the mouth flows across the territory or along the borders of 10 countries – Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, in particular Transcarpathia. And its basin covers the territory of 19 countries in Central and Southern Europe.

Meanwhile, the water quality in the river is worsening every year. Virtually all surface water sources and tributaries of the Danube have been heavily polluted in recent decades. The most harmful substances include oil products, pesticides (chemicals), synthetic detergents, phenols, which are contained in industrial wastes, domestic and agricultural wastewater. The largest tributaries in the middle section of the Danube are the rivers of Drava (Dráva), Tisa (Tisza), and Sava (Száva). Tisa (Tisza) has more weight in the river network of Hungary, its length withinin the country is 579 km. The source of the river is located in Ukraine, near Rakhiv (Rahó), then the Tisa crosses Romania.

One of the problems is uncontrolled deforestation of the Ukrainian Carpathians. It leads to floods and drought in the valleys, reduction of the fauna and the disappearance of some populations, soil erosion, causing great harm to Ukraine itself. Because forests perform many environmental functions, including water-regulating, anti-erosion, anti-landslide ones. In the waters of the Tisa, there is a high concentration of ammonia nitrogen, organic compounds, phenols and copper. This is a gift from another country. On April 16, 2009 due to breakage of a pressure pipe at the slime water cleaning station of a mining company in the region of Baia Borsa (Romania), the Sekou river, a tributary of the Tisa became polluted. The concentration of heavy metals in the waters of the river exceeded the norm by 2-4 times. And now a Romanian meat processing plant located in the county of Satu Mare is polluting the Szamos, where every day thousands of cubic meters of untreated industrial wastewater flow into the Tisa river. Hungary is affected the most by such cases of mismanagement. The Tisa carries the contaminated water to the Danube. Large areas of agricultural land are exposed to polluted waters of the river. About 4 thousand kilometers of dikes and fortifications have been built in the country for flood protection. In 1999, Hungary allocated Ukraine 100 million forints for the construction of information and computing station for notification about the approaching flood.

On May 28, 1986, the "Agreement on protection of the Tisa river and its tributaries from pollution" was signed in Szeged. The agreement was signed by the Government of the Hungarian People’s Republic, the Socialist Republic of Romania, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Federal Executive Veche Assembly of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The basis of the agreement was the recognition of the importance of rational use and protection of waters of the Tisa river and its tributaries from pollution for both people’s welfare and health, and economic and social development of the countries. In Article 5 of the Agreement, the Parties assumed obligations to take measures to reduce pollution in the Tisa river border sections and tributaries. The Agreement mandated Hungary to serve as the depositary. Since due to a number of historical events, the composition of the signatories was changed (the disintegration of the USSR, FSRU, Czechoslovakia), and the subject of the Agreement is more relevant than ever, perhaps it is time to review and update the document.