Priority Environmental Protection Development – EU Funding for the Reconstruction of Gyáli Stream Basin 5 November 2009
Assistance contracts of 253 priority projects worth over 1,620 billion HUF in value have been signed within the framework of the New Hungary Development Plan up to 4 November.
One of these is the project bearing the title "Reconstruction of Gyáli Stream", which is one of the priority environmental protection developments implemented in the Central Hungary region. Its main outcome is that the inland flood protection and drainage system in the region of Gyál, Vecsés, Üllő, Gyömrő and Monor will become safer.
The concerned basin, namely, the inland water system of Gyál, is the area lying in the upper basin of the Ráckeve (Soroksár) Danube branch. The basin itself lies at the crossroads of a hilly and flat landscape. The terrain in the lower part of this area only drops slightly and low terrain adjacent to drainage canals is moderately prone to inland flooding. The natural descent of the terrain in the upper area of the basin is more substantial; heavy precipitation and sudden melting of snow is primarily what causes problems in this area.
Ensuring water drainage during flood periods is what represents a problem in the lower stretch where drainage developments will take place, whilst water shortages arising during dry seasons, as well as water quality-related problems caused by the channelling of treated waste water is what causes problems along the upper stretch
The aim of this project costing over 1.2 billion HUF and fully implemented from EU funding is to increase water drainage safety in the Gyáli Stream basin area, develop the stream in accordance with demands and ensure a quality ecological environment in the area currently burdened by waste water discharged in the dynamically developing region.
Restoring the ecological state of the basin is particularly prioritised within the framework of this investment, hence enabling the removal of pollutants along the stretch affected by the treated waste water channelled into the stream, as well as the revitalisation of polluted stretches. The self-cleansing process will also speed up through the implementation of these environmental protection developments, as an outcome of which it will only be necessary to artificially intervene in natural processes every five years, instead of the current practice of every 2 years.
The investment, which is to be completed by 2012, forms an integral part of priority areas to be developed in the European Union (environmental and energy programmes). The quality of life of residents living in the area and enterprises operating in the Gyál and Monor micro-regions will immediately improve as an outcome of this reconstruction work. The way in which the work of farmers operating in the area to be developed will become safer and environmental impacts will become easier to foresee is not a negligible factor either, whilst enterprises investing in the area (industrial parks, other industrial facilities, building industry, etc.) will have the opportunity to ensure a more liveable and cleaner environment for their investments.