Trip to Szolnok and Lake Tisza #1

I am trying to learn more about water management in Hungary and I got an amazing education last week from the Director of the Middle Tisza Water District.  The Hungarians take flood management seriously, as well they should.  I will never look at a floodplain the same way again--as he pointed out things to me on maps or on the ground, I remembered similar things from the Dayton, Ohio area.  Yesterday, I went to Pecs here in Hungary and as I went along, I saw the management in the landscape.  It looks pretty natural most of the time.  The one hydropower dam Hungary has is at the artificial Lake Tisza, which gets a great many birds during migrations.  (Well, Hungary has one that could work, but they are no longer interested in it). The Tisza is also a pretty river.  I liked how the district, following national rules and good solid, management put a few explanations up for the public and also name spots after famous Hungarian writers or notables associated with a part of the river.

Szolnok is an industrial town. Like so many in Hungary, it fell on some hard times after the end of the Cold War.  But it is coming back through new investments in the town, the emphasis on water management, and new jobs coming in.  One of the newest projects in town involves a pedestrian bridge and raising the levees to better cope with sometimes higher floods than in the past. The bridge is shaped like a mayfly--which hatches in vast quantities in late June.  There's also a funny statue in their honor.

Here's a view of the new embankment work in the city. Keeping the trees is very important.