Renewal on the way – – 2024-05-07 13:27:45

Water supply

Written by Mirtill Radonyi

Energy Minister Csaba Lantos announced a national reconstruction program for the water supply in Szolnok before the weekend.

Lantos emphasized that since the water supply sector was represented by an independent state secretariat, the situation in the water industry could be steered into an orderly direction. Previously, around two thirds of the companies were on the verge of bankruptcy.

Standardized tariffs for commercial customers

As of January 1st, water supply tariffs for commercial customers were also regulated. Previously, there were 49-fold differences in drinking water rates and 26-fold differences in wastewater rates for commercial customers in the country. Fees were unified and a development fund was created to launch a specific water management reconstruction program. In the last decade, around 1,000 billion forints have been spent on the development of water supply, primarily on sewage networks. In Hungary today, 95% of households are connected to the drinking water network and 84% of households are connected to the sewage network. However, the pipes of the drinking water network are outdated.

Immense water losses

More than 22% of the water pumped into the pipes is lost on the way to the consumer, which means serious water losses. In order to put an end to this unfortunate situation, the national reconstruction program was launched. Instead of making makeshift repairs, entire pipes can be replaced in larger sections along with the associated infrastructure. The length of the country’s water pipeline network is over 90,000 kilometers, of which more than 40,000 kilometers need to be replaced. The given capacity for renewal is around 1,200 kilometers per year.