Kőrös-ér Inland Canal System Renewed24 November 2010
The project “Development and reconstruction of the bed of the Kőrös-ér inland canal system” has been completed. The formal closing ceremony of the project implemented under the Central Hungary Operational Programme was held at Nagykőrös yesterday. The almost one billion HUF project was implemented with 100% EU and national co-financing.
Currently the Kőrös-ér inlet area is a socially, economically and environmentally disadvantaged region because of the population loss due to migration and the destruction of the environmental values. Intermittent droughts and heavy rainfalls plague the region from year to year, causing the arable lands to shrink and farm production to fall. The construction of a canal system to drain the inland waters and the excessive precipitation was thought to be the answer to the problems.
Under this project over 40 km of canals have been renewed, the area that can be drained has trebled and the capacity of the canals has significantly increased too.
The works performed in the Körös-ér area under the project can be summed up briefly as: capacity increase, rehabilitation, creation of value in the inland areas, inland water management, environmentally friendly use of the beds, and cost-efficient operation in the outlying areas. The reconstruction of the closed canal sections and the beds has produced sustainable bed conditions, and the rehabilitation of the embankment areas has created harmony between the built-up and the natural environment. The increase of the available water helps replace ground waters and balances to some extent the inequalities in the distribution of the surface waters in both time and place. The creation of the conditions of wetland habitats may bring an upswing in eco-tourism, thus increasing the population retention capabilities and attraction of the region.