Hungary's Shrinking Lake Fuels Climate Change Fears
Date: 03-Sep-03
Country: HUNGARY
Author: Ian Geoghegan
For the first time since records began in 1865, four consecutive hot summers and low annual rainfall have sucked millions of gallons of water from the lake, exposing large mudflats and forcing vacationers to walk far out into the lake before they can swim.
One legend has it that a young girl sits weeping in a church in the center of the lake, her tears the source of water for one of central Europe's favorite family resorts.
Maybe she's stopped crying, but scientists, preferring a more pragmatic theory, blame the falling water levels on global warming, and warn that such rapid climate change could devastate Balaton's tourism-dependent economy in the decades to come.
Hungary's leftist government, battling to get the economy in shape to join the European Union next May, has asked scientists to prepare an advisory report on the Balaton by October.
Balaton, 100 miles south of Budapest, covers 231 square miles. Once a summer retreat for the Austro-Hungarian empire's elite, it was a favored meeting point for East and West Germans when communism restricted international travel.
With its warm, shallow waters, picturesque villages, thermal spas and sloping vineyards, the lake attracts several million tourists each year and accounts for over 5 percent of GDP.
But this blazing summer has been particularly hard.
JEWEL
Hungary's wheat crop is down by a third and the Danube, a key freight artery, is at its lowest levels in parts for over a century. Summer temperatures have been some 4 degrees Celsius above the 100-year average.
All this is hitting the jewel in Hungary's tourism crown.
Iren Heinzl, who has maintained a small holiday home on Balaton's southern shore for over 40 years, is at a loss to explain how the lake has receded so rapidly this year.
"Over the last four years, the lake's been getting smaller but, since May, I've been shocked to see what's been going on. Maybe in a few years it'll be like Africa here," she said.
Long wooden jetties that used to stretch from shore side gardens into the lake now stand awkward and exposed, ending abruptly hundreds of yards short of the lake.
"No one seems to know why this is happening. I hope the scientists are working on this as it's not just a local problem but one for the whole of Europe."
Some local businesses blame Hungary's media for helping fan the talk of crisis at Balaton, with reports of high prices and poor service, as well as the lower water levels.
Many Hungarians have opted this year to go to neighboring Croatia's Adriatic coast, but Balaton's bar and cafe owners predict they will return once they have compared prices.
At Balatonfenyves, another small lakeside resort, large mud banks have appeared around 328 feet offshore.
Families play soccer in ankle-deep water where previously they would have been able to swim.
Lack of action by the authorities has fueled a mood of anger and frustration among the thousands of small businesses that eke out a summer living from the mainly German, Austrian and local tourists.
Some want an immediate remedy, with fresh water brought in to top up the lake, though many are aware of warnings that this could disturb Balaton's delicate ecological balance.
Others want a more inspired marketing campaign, moving on from the decades-old sales pitch of Hungary as the land of goulash, paprika and merry gypsy folk music.
Tibor Reti, whose parents have run a small lakeside cafe for 21 years, said they had had enough and were packing up to leave.
"Business this season is down by 50 percent. There's no future for us here at Balaton unless something is done about the water levels," he said.
A stone's throw away, another business is closing down, its giant water slide standing idle. Where it used to plunge into the lake, its spout now hangs in mid-air, yards above dry mud.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Balaton, itself a result of climate change at the end of the last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago, is fed b
