Budapest to upgrade drinking water network with EU Funding

Published: April 13 2023

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The European Union will finance the upgrade of the drinking water network in Budapest with EUR 53m. The replacement of around 3,000 connections will be enabled by the investment, which is important since old lead pipes are still in use, making the replacement "a burning need" according to Kata Tüttő, the deputy mayor in charge of city operations.

Furthermore, part of the existing network will be refurbished while sixty wells on Szentendre island and Csepel island will see a revamp.

The condition of Hungary’s waterworks has been criticised by László Lóránt Keresztes, LMP leader and head of the sustainable development committee in Hungary.

He highlighted the severity of the problem and the critical need for immediate modernisation of Hungary’s public waterworks, suggesting that Hungary needs to invest several thousands of billions of forints to complete the work. This is due to concerns that Hungary’s network cannot wait until 2026, as is included in a bill before parliament, for modernization.

László Lóránt Keresztes criticised the Hungarian government for giving priority to securing water supplies for foreign battery plants instead of focusing on providing decent quality drinking water to the Hungarian public.