Environmental Biology of Fishes **: * **, ****.

**** ****** ******** **********. ******* in the Netherlands.

Gab kovo river barrage system: the ecological disaster and economic calamity

c

for the inland delta of the middle Danube,

Eugene K. Balona & Juraj Hol kbc

a Axelrod Institute of Ichthyology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada

(e-mail: abpnzz@r.postjobfree.com)

b Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, D bravsk cesta 9, 842 06 Bratislava, Slovakia

u a

(e-mail: abpnzz@r.postjobfree.com)

Received 26 February 1998 Accepted 1 August 1998

Key words: inundation areas, wetlands, Gab kovo Water Project history, environmental impacts, Slovakia,

c

Hungary, river barrage, cost and bene t estimates

Synopsis

The Gab kovo Water Project (GWP), a major construction of damming and canalizing on the upper part of the

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middle Danube was completed and put into operation in October 1992. It destroyed most of the 230 km 2 of wetlands.

Two-thirds of the wetlands are becoming dry, discontinuous or severely changed which will ultimately destroy the

original ecosystem and lead to a decline in biological diversity. Based upon detailed knowledge of the limnology

and sh biology of this section of the Danube River the effects of the GWP were predicted as early as 1964. All

the recent post-construction impact studies of the GWP report few negative effects and so the planners and builders

defend the project. It is dif cult to believe that all sides in the current GWP legal controversy have overlooked the

most important point. Any effects immediately after construction are purely transitory. A large body of published

empirical and theoretical information clearly shows that the mostly negative effects of such large water projects

become apparent only several years or decades after construction. The value of the destroyed wetland and river

oodplain is at least US $ 520 million per year, and clearly incriminates the VV (Vodohospod rska v stavba) of

a y

fraudulent representation of bene ts . The enormous ood of devious publications glorifying the work of the VV

in recent years should be interpreted as a cover up for the bad conscience of the builders. The International Court

of Justice in the Hague delivered its judgement on the GWP case on 25 September 1997. There were no winners in

this case as both Slovakia and Hungary were said to have acted inappropriately: it was illegal for Hungary to stop

its part on the project according to the treaty of 1977, and Slovakia had no right to put Gab kovo into operation

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unilaterally. As the Court dealt little with the social, environmental and economic aspects of the GWP, the true

losers became the inland delta of the Danube, the last large wetland of Europe, and the local inhabitants.

The inland delta of the Danube River and the

Gab kovo Water Project

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Editorial

Folly pursuing policies injurious to self-interest First presented (and published) under the title An essay on the

while being advised against them is nothing new

ecological calamity in the middle Danube at the 3rd International

... e

Conference on Reservoir Limnology and Water Quality, Cesk

Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne H. Ehrlich (1996) Bud jovice, 11 15 August 1997 (Int. Rev. Hydrobiol. 83: 51 64,

e

in Betrayal of science and reason: how anti- 1998). This is a substantially amended and expanded version of

environmental rhetoric threatens our future the essay.

TYPESET EBFI 1934 PIPS 192012

2

was about 23 000 ha. Of this about 3000 ha consisted

Since some biologists in Slovakia have now joined the

of a system of branches interconnected to the main

ranks of engineers, former communist functionaries,

Danube River channel (see Hol k 1990a). Unlike most

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and the new, often uninformed democratic politicians

in praising the achievements of the Gab kovo Water European rivers, discharge of the Danube increases in

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spring and culminates in summer due to water from

Project (GWP), we felt that it is our duty to repeat our 35

melting Alpine glaciers. Floods did not merely repre-

year old concerns about the devastating environmental

sent an increase in water area and in ground water lev-

and social effects of this project and once more review

els, but were an important source of nutrients. From the

the data. It becomes even more timely in view of the

biological point of view, the oods have an enormous

ood of slick publications and media messages that the

positive impact. It is not an accident that old civiliza-

builders and purse holders launched to cover up their

tions were created in the areas adjacent to extensive

misdeed and in uence the public opinion in their favor

oodplains of large rivers. Floodplains represent the

(see references later).

biologically most productive regions of our planet and

At the break through the Devin Gate, the Danube

the inland delta of the Danube was not an exception.

River enters the extensive depression which is lled

To illustrate this, let us introduce a few data:

by the Neogene and Quarternary sediments. The river

There were 14 000 ha of softwood forest on the left

forced its way through its own depository cone, the

Slovak bank of the river, which could be harvested

back of which is above the level of adjacent terri-

18 30 years after planting. Their annual yield was

tory. This part of the Danube is noteworthy for its

19 m3 ha 1 . This was 3 5 times more than in other

gradient conditions. The Danube gradient changes in

the vicinity of the village Sap [river kilometer (rkm) areas. The available production of shes or the potential

yield was 195 to 980 kg ha 1, and this was equal to

1810], upstream from which the gradient is 0.31,

while downstream the gradient decreases to 0.10 . or higher than in many sh ponds but without addi-

tional energy requirement (see also Hol k 1996). The

The mean overall gradient of the Slovak Hungarian c

section of the Danube River is about 0.19 . Differ- actual harvest of shes in this inland delta was two

ences in the gradient are also re ected in the differ- times higher than that in adjacent downstream parts of

ent values of the current velocity. Above the gradient the Danube River in Hungary where a oodplain is not

change, the maximum current velocity ranges from 2 to developed. Due to the hydrological regime the produc-

3.5 m s 1, and beneath it the current velocity decreases tion potential of a vast area adjacent to the oodplain

to 0.75 1.8 m s 1 . Thus the section downstream of beyond the river dikes was very high. The harvest of

Bratislava (rkm 1870) is the end of the erosional zone, cereals here was the highest in former Czechoslovakia:

whereas that downstream of the village Sap is the the average long-term annual yield per hectare of wheat

beginning of the depositional zone. The large current was more than 4 metric tons, that of barley almost 4 mt,

velocity is responsible for the Danube s considerable the yield of corn 5.5 mt, and the harvest of sugar beets

transport capacity. no less than 40 mt. The species diversity of vertebrates

Due to all this, an extensive inland delta developed in the inland delta was high in comparison with other

here in the past, i.e. a oodplain network of numerous regions as here lived 65 species of shes, 11 species of

side arms, swamps and lakes (Figure 1). The area of this amphibians, 9 species of reptiles, 41 species of mam-

oodplain considerably decreased in the second half of mals, and 242 species of birds. Many of them were lim-

the 19th century due to water projects aimed at ood ited to just this ecosystem. These are the main reasons

control and improvement of water transport. In spite why more and more people objected to the completion

of this, the Slovak Hungarian inland delta remained and operation of the GWP.

functional and after almost complete destruction of the River bed changes of the Danube have been observed

oodplain of the delta proper in Roumania (between here prior to GWP operation. Since 1966 the water level

pro le for a discharge of 1000 m3 s 1 decreased by 1 to

Calarasi and Braila) after World War II, it represented

the most signi cant wetland over the whole almost 2 m between rkm 1870 and 1840, and further between

3000 km long course of the Danube River. While the rkm 1805 and 1785. Two factors responsible for the

area of the Danube between the Morava (March) River river bed degradation are: (1) the effect of 32 dams built

mouth (rkm 1880.2) and the mouth of the Ipel River in the German and especially Austrian sections of the

(rkm 1808) is about 8000 ha, the area of the oodplain, Danube that decreased the amount of sediments in the

delimited by the large ood dikes along both shores, GWP section to about 1/4 of the formerly transported

3

Figure 1. a Gradient diagram of the Danube River with the piedmont zone (westernmost oodplain) highlighted by horizontal lines

and triple arrows, and the main tributary entries by triangles. b The middle Danube from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century with

permanent and intermittent wetlands; the westernmost oodplain is marked by triple arrows (after M kkai 1985).

a

volume (which was on average about 630 000 m3 of volume was dredged out in the city of Bratislava (rkm

1860 1870), where in some years over 2.5 million m3

pebble and gravel and about 7 million tons of sus-

were excavated. Consequently, the timing and the vol-

pended solids annually between 1930 1960), and (2)

ume of water which entered the side arms and ood-

the large scale dredging of the river bed along the

plain changed considerably from the earlier conditions.

Danube River from both the Slovak and Hungarian

Part of the inland delta between rkm 1860 and 1840 was

side. The annual volume of dredged material at some

river sections was up to 1.5 2.0 million m3 . The largest ooded. Downstream the arms lled later in the season

4

the contacts among side arms and the Danube are com-

and with less water. In some years and seasons, some

of these arms dried up completely. As shown by Hol k pletely interrupted. The remnants of the left arms are

c

supplied by an intake structure of discharge capacity

(1990a), the sh community in affected arms responded

up to 240 m3 s 1 which takes water from the diversion

to these changes by a severe decline of species diversity,

abundance, ichthyomass, and of the total and available canal at Dobroho t (rkm 1840). To keep water in the

s

production. In spite of this, most parts of the oodplain lateral level pools and arms, these were converted to a

were still under the rhythm of oods; the ecosystem system of cascades formed by 11 weirs between rkm

of the inland delta did not show substantial deviation, 1840 and 1820.

and demonstrated characteristic responses of the sh Only one sh passage (ladder) was built between the

stocks and sh catches to changes of the hydrological old river bed and the lower part of the anabranch system

regime. at rkm 1821. However, current velocity from the weir

openings is over 1 m s 1 and the sh passageway is not

Originally the GWP was to consist of two construc-

tion schemes, one in Hungary (Nagymaros) and the properly constructed, so the sh migration upstream

second in Slovakia (Gab kovo), mutually linked by

c was never observed, as proven by tag returns from

over 6000 shes tagged downstream of Gab kovo

water levels and the mode of power utilization. As the c

Nagymaros part was not, and we hope, will never be and Cunovo in 1992 1995. All natural ooding of the

realized, we shall restrict ourselves to the Gab kovoc inland delta ceased. Although the arti cial ooding of

only. The Hru ov-Dunakiliti Barrage constructed by

s the former oodplain was planned, and also attempted

the Hungarians on their side across the old Danube in 1995, 1997 and 1998, these attempts did not sim-

River bed was abandoned when only the Slovak vari- ulate the natural oods, as their timing and duration

ant C was chosen to be nished. Instead, a new barrage were different. Before the construction of the GWP

about 10 km upstream at Cunovo (rkm 1853) was built the water level of the Danube River started to rise

in haste within one year and the GWP put in opera- and the discharge began increasing in January, cul-

tion in October 1992. The resultant Cunovo Reservoir minating between the second half of May and the

below Bratislava forced prolongation of the right side rst half of June. According to the 50 year observa-

dikes of the inlet canal shortening by half the origi- tion period the average highest discharge amounted to

2875 m3 s 1 and occurred in June. The amount of water

nally planned Hru ov-Dunakiliti Reservoir. The length

s

which entered the oodplain varied between 200 and

of the Cunovo Reservoir is now about 10 km with a

400 m3 s 1 . The rst arti cial ood attempted in 1995

maximum depth of 11 m, the average area less than

began on 25 July and lasted until 25 August, culmi-

4000 ha. The water accumulated here is carried down

to the Gab kovo power plant (rkm 1821) via the above- nating from 1 to 9 August. Because the discharge rose

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from 35 to only 60 131 m3 s 1, merely a small part of

ground 23 km long diversion canal. The canal bottom is

the wetland was ooded. In 1997 the arti cial ood-

at the present terrain level the largest canal of this kind

in the world (see Figure 2) its capacity is 5000 m3 s 1 ing begun on 21 April, culminating between 27 and

and its width varies from 267 to 737 m, the maximum 30 April, however, the peak lasted only 99 hours; it

height being 18 m. The water surface in this inlet canal ended on 15 May. In 1998 the arti cial ooding was

is from 7 to 15 m above the landscape! The dike walls postponed to 1 8 August. It is clear that the arti cial

along this canal are made of gravel covered by concrete oods did not correspond to the natural regimes nei-

and asphalt; the bottom is strengthened by compacting ther in timing and duration nor in the amount of water

the existing clay loam by a layer of gravel. The seepage discharge and area ooded.

of the canal is kept to minimum. From the Gab kovo c The change after operation of GWP affects about

800 km2 of country. The old river bed works as a

power station the water is led away by an in-ground

8 km long outlet canal 17 to 18 m deep which joins drainage canal and due to this the ground water level in

the Danube near Sap (formerly Palkovi ovo) at rkm

c the area of the former oodplain dropped by 0.5 4 m.

1811. Between the dam at Cunovo and the mouth of Moreover, the seasonal oods ceased and most rem-

the downstream canal at Sap the old main river bed is nants of the inland delta are doomed. After construction

considerably changed. It is now supplied by a limited of the GWP and its rst operation in October 1992,

volume of water between 250 and 600 m3 s 1 . Due to the formerly functional ecosystem of the inland delta

this, the water level of the old Danube bed is 3 5 m became extinct. It was replaced by the arti cial sys-

below the ground level of the former oodplain, and tem of more or less isolated habitats. The plant and

be Cunovo Reservoir

Zi be

tny

Da Os Cunovo

nu tro Ca

Barrage

be v na

l

Dunakiliti

Barrage

Sz Gabc kovo Gabc kovo

Da

ig power station

c d Canal

Danube

Danube Old river bed

River

Ground - water levels

Figure 2. The area of the Danube inland delta (a) before and (b) after construction of the GWP, and a schematic cross-section through

the center of that area (c) before and (d) after the construction. Before the construction a network of interconnected river arms, swamps

and lakes surrounded by extensive oodplain forest existed on the Slovak and Hungarian sides of the Danube. Most of the water owed

in the main river bed of the Danube proper (a,c). After the completion of the GWP (b, d) the above-ground-level inlet canal carries

approximately 85% of the water and the water level in the old river bed dropped 3 5 m below the adjacent land which dangerously

decreased the ground-water levels and leaves most of the water network dry (modi ed after Sibl 1993).

of the species diversity and biomass (Sporka & Krno,3

animal assemblages and the species diversity is being

dramatically altered (see also McAllister et al. 1997). Vranovsk 1997). In addition to this decrease of sh

y

The most complete data come from limnological inves- food base, the loss of the inland delta also resulted in

tigations ( Hol k1,2 ). The severe alterations of both the

c the subsequent loss of spawning, feeding and winter-

hydrological regime and the habitat diversity induced ing grounds for shes. Consequently, the mean annual

the subsequent changes of the benthos and zooplank- sh catch (Figure 3), calculated for the period after

ton communities, as well as the change and decrease the damming of the river in October 1992, dropped by

87% in comparison with the period 1961 1972 when

the construction of the GWP existed only on paper (for

details see Hol k1 ).

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1 Hol k, J. 1998. Impact of the Gab kovo water works con-

c c

struction and operation on the recreational shery in the Slovak

3 Sporka, F. & I. Krno. 1995. Zmeny v bentickej faune

segment of the Danube River. pp. 64 65. In: M. Rauta, N.

Bacalbasa-Dobrovici, G. Vasilescu & L. Oprea (ed.) Manage- hlavn ho toku a v d le iacich v inund cii po sprev dzkovan

e o z a a

mentul Pescarilor in Bazinul Dunarii, Rezumalele Extinse ale VD Gab kovo (Changes in benthic fauna in the main channel

c

Lucrarilor Prezentate la Simpozionul International (Fisheries of the Danube river and its oodplain water bodies following

management in the Danube river basin, extended abstracts of con- the Gab kovo waterworks becoming operational.). pp. 132 143.

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tributions presented at the international symposium Aquarom 98, In: A. Svobodov & M.J. Lisick (ed.) V sledky a sk senosti z

a y y u

Galati, Romania 18 22 May 1998). monitorovania bioty uzemia ovplyvnen ho VD Gab kovo (Bio-

e c

2 Hol k, J. 1998. National report from Slovakia. MS submitted to logical monitoring of the territory in uenced by the Gab kovo

c

c

waterworks: results and experiences), Ustav zool gie a ekoso-

o

the steering committee of the international symposium Aquarom

zol gie, Bratislava.

o

98, Galati, Romania 18 22 May 1998.

6

and river is at least US $ 520 million per year for as long

as the planet s ecosystems function or are not changed.

Even without the unknown bene ts of water traf c or

recreation, and the cost of damage control, the bal-

ance sheet of the VV is more than a calamity. Any non

state, non taxpayer supported organization would have

been long ago forced into bankruptcy! Was it all worth

to loose for ever such a large piece of Gaia s survival

system (Lovelock 1990)?

Figure 3. Mean annual total sh catch on the Slovak side of the

Danube River during the predamming (1961 1979) period, period

of the GWP construction (1980 1992), and the postdamming

Introduction to the problems of GWP

period (1993 1996). Commercial and recreational sh catches are

combined until 1987. After the forced termination of the commer-

cial shery in 1992, only anglers catch is given (after Hol k1 ). One of us (EKB) studied the environmental biol-

c

ogy of shes in the area of the present GWP for

14 years (1953 1967). At that time the GWP started

Although most of the results of scienti c studies sup-

to emerge as a petty project of technocrats sup-

ported by observations from similar projects in other

ported by totalitarian politicians (see Dub 1966).

geographical regions were already known to the engi-

Published or unpublished objections caused severe

neers before 1978, when the construction began, they

ostracism and in a well-remembered instance even

were almost completely ignored. Some corrective mea-

led to the con scation of a weekly magazine s entire

sures aimed at rescue of the inland delta by the con-

print run because of our editorial against the planned

struction of the supply canal were contemplated only

GWP (Balon et al. 1964). A major study with

after 1986 when the main structures of the GWP were

warnings against the environmental effects of GWP

already over 90% completed. In order to prevent water

was allowed to be published (Balon 1967) but was

loss because of the 3 5 m difference in water levels

rarely cited by the advocates of GWP then and

between the old river bed and the side arms, several

now, so that environmentally conscious Hungarians

weirs at the downstream end of arms were built as

who started their opposition much later, truly believe

mentioned earlier. In effect, near the inlet structures

they were the rst opponents. Similar water devel-

water levels became too high; in the downstream parts

opment schemes, subsequently studied elsewhere,

too low. This year [1996] no more simulated oods

have proven the dubious bene ts of such constructions

occurred (Seffer 1997, p. 33, our translation). Strong

(Balon 1974, 1978). The other of us (JH) continued to

current over each weir and lack of sh passages ren-

collect data on a large scale on location since 1968 (e.g.

ders these improvements totally ineffective. Instead

Hol k et al. 1981) and has objected to the GWP for 25

c

of the functional sh passages at the weirs, however,

years (Hol k 1982, 1990b, 1993, Hol k et al. 1992).

c c

VV (Vodohospod rska v stavba, translated by them

a y

More to the point, instead of the now routinely

as Water-Supplies Construction but really meaning

required environmental impact assessment studies for

water management construction organization, a state

any such project in the civilized world, the VV went

enterprise) opened with much publicity (Figure 4) a

ahead with the approval, design and construction of the

racing track for kayaks and canoes!

GWP without such studies, in spite of serious oppo-

By a very rough estimate, the GWP was put into

sition and numerous disastrous examples elsewhere.

operation for an approximate price of US $ 1.4 billion4

Only because of the demise of the former totalitar-

(= 42 billion Sk as per exchange rate of 11 Septem-

ian masters was the lack of pre-construction impact

ber 1998) and is to last for about 50 years. At best it

assessments hastily replaced by post-construction

will produce 3100 million kWh per year at the real

impact assessments along with a series of VV s own

price given by the VV as US $ 180 million per year

slick publications (e.g. Chmel r 1991, 1992, 1993,

a

(Vavrov 1993). However, according to Costanza et al.

a

Vavrov 1993, Lipt k 1993, Lahoda 1993, Gab kovo

a a c

(1997) estimates, the value of the destroyed oodplains

c

1992, 1994, Hra ko 1993a, Abaffy et al. 1995, A 1997,

s

Kirka 1997) which glorify the engineering achieve-

4 Kol ko stoji SVD Gab kovo? (What is the cost of the GWP?).

c

a ments and justify the GWP completion. While funds

Box in Nov Vpred Zurn l, 30 June 1998.

y

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Figure 4. The kayak racing tracks at the Gab kovo barrage built rst as part of the VV promise to create endless recreational facilities

c

in the area (photograph by E.K. Balon).

for any serious scienti c work were lost in the vel- like a convenient smoke screen giving the ones respon-

vet revolution (i.e. the demise of communism in sible for the ecological disaster time to leave the scene

1989), the representatives of the Slovak investor orga- of their crime (Balon 1978).

nization VV nanced not only this series of pam- With time, the problems of GWP became so

phlets and soft and hard cover publications loaded politicized that the ecological aspects were manip-

with color reproductions but also the ultimate post- ulated beyond recognition, as is evident in the vol-

construction volume entitled Gab kovo Part of the

c ume edited by Mucha (1995) and in the Slovak and

Hydroelectric Power Project, Environmental Impact Hungarian extensive Worldwide Web homepages refer-

ring to The Gab kovo Hydro-Electric and Navigation

Review, Evaluation Based on Two Year Monitoring c

(Mucha 1995). This monitoring of the GWP initi- Project and

ated in 1990 by the Slovak Academy of Sciences .

and paid by the VV was, however, discontinued in It is not our intention to get involved in any of the pol-

1998 because the VV got into debts and is unable to itics (e.g. Li ka et al. 1993). We simply want to point

s

pay for it. out omissions in the past, especially the failure to carry

During years of irresponsible free reign, engineers out crucial assessments of ecological impacts, and to

created large dams and water development schemes warn about the fallacy of relying on short-term environ-

hardly hampered by opposition and regulations. A large mental improvements in the early phases of operation.

volume entitled The Careless Technology (Farvar & We do not have any illusions that those responsible

Milton 1969, 1972) and a ood of literature there- will ever have to answer for their carelessness. Even in

after (e.g. Efford 1975) clearly documented that it the best of circumstances environmental standards are

takes many years and even decades for the negative poorly enforced (Farvar & Milton 1969, 1972, Cohen

impacts to reveal themselves. Justi cation of GWP 1997). However, we hope that future generations, when

based on only two years of monitoring looks more faced with the negative effects, will know whom to

8

blame and more importantly will nally learn from the 1982, Weiger 1983, Schreiber 1983). While all these

mistakes made in the past. dams are on the river far above the rst wetlands, their

negative effects are expected still to reveal themselves

(Balon 1992, Balon et al. 1992) in about 50 years (Aron

History of the projects and of opposition to GWP & Smith 1971). It was, however, pointed out in all the

former studies that the GWP area the inland delta

Without the environmental impact assessment that of the Danube is of unique signi cance for the life

would have been required elsewhere, the builders of of the river and should not be tampered with lightly

GWP went ahead with the construction mostly by (e.g. Balon 1967, Hol k 1982). The remaining network

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the impetus granted by totalitarian rulers. Any seri- of interconnected oxbow lakes and river arms formed

ous opposition was suppressed by the enforced calm an important self purifying and stabilized oodplain

on the right side of the Danube in 1956 and, on the left essential also for water retention in the adjacent fertile

side, after similar international help in 1968, when the land. Located at the rst sharp decline in the river gradi-

Warsaw Pact troops led by the Soviet Union invaded ent, these wetlands (Figure 1), in spite of severe restric-

Hungary and Czechoslovakia, respectively. After the tions by the ood dikes since olden times, were still able

demise of the oppressors in 1989 the construction was to control the underground water levels of the adjacent

already too far advanced and the VV organization too y

Zitn Ostrov and Szigetk z areas of oodplain forest

o

well established for the few surviving opposition voices and fertile agricultural land.

to matter (e.g. Hol k 1990b). The personal freedom

c Before our synthesis on the subject could be

gained bene ted not only the formerly oppressed but published, the Gab kovo-Nagymaros project was

c

the oppressors as well and so engineers felt free to approved and declared the Largest Socialist Construc-

continue with a new vigour. Their slick (and expen- tion Scheme . At that time the Slovak weekly maga-

sive) publications between 1991 and 1997 are the best

zine Kult rny zivot (Cultural Life) was re ecting the

u

witness in support of the above statements. Bolstered signs of liberalization under the editorship of Ladislav

by the nancial riches allotted to them by the new M a ko, a courageous novelist. We wrote a multi-

nc

confused governments (Federal Republic of Czecho- authored article against the GWP for this magazine

Slovakia and then Slovakia) the GWP builders won and M a ko had it refereed by the VV engineers. They

nc

over even some otherwise cautious scientists to sup- promptly responded with erce totalitarian threats by

port their case, and some former communist party telephone but nally agreed, on M a ko s insistence,

nc

of cials, who never worked on the Danube problems to come to a meeting with the two of us to argue the

before, suddenly became their experts (e.g. for shes issues as a tape-recorded debate. We arrived at the edi-

Kirka 1994, 1995, 1997). True scholars still report seri- torial of ces at the prearranged time and were told that

ous negative effects (e.g., Vranovsk 1997). Because

y the previously con dent and annoyed engineers had

of low environmental and ecological awareness of the declined at the last moment, requesting more time for

general public in Slovakia, articles showing the nega- preparation. At that, M a ko decided to publish our

nc

tive effects of GWP and other dams are not known to article as an editorial and somehow managed to steer

the mass media or rejected and not published, and the it successfully through the press censorship (Balon

construction of the GWP is glori ed as the achievement et al.1964). Unfortunately, the issue did not reach the

of the entire Slovak nation. news stands; before its nal distribution the ever watch-

Our initial studies of the Slovak Hungarian part of ful Central Committee (CC) of the Slovak Commu-

the Danube River were as soon as possible expanded nist Party caught up with it and con scated the entire

to include the entire upper Danube above the pied- press run (except for a few copies saved in the editorial

mont zone of the rst large oodplain (Balon et al. of ces).5

1986). Thirty two dams across the river in Austria

and Germany were explained, in addition to their

hydropower production, as navigational necessity for 5 An even more frightful experience awaited the second author

the completion of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal

(JH) in 1973. His article on the environmental impacts of the

(Figure 5). This canal, opened also in 1992, enables GWP sent to the newspaper Smena was halted by the CC; the

continuous water transport from the Black Sea to the author was summoned and accused of counter revolutionary activ-

North Sea and was itself an engineering achievement ity on payroll by western imperialists and forbidden to ever write

completed in spite of strong opposition (e.g. Grebe negatively about the GWP.

9

Figure 5. The water transport accross Europe from the Black Sea to the North Sea connected the Danube and Rhine rivers through the

Rhine-Main-Danube canal (marked by an arrow). Location of the GWP is marked by a circle.

The later articles (Rothschein 1973, 19767, Bastl8

When the rst synthesis of our ichthyological data

appeared (Balon 1967) we presented shes as the best Hol k 1980) and especially the multi-authored synthe-

c

indicators of the ecosystem s well being and analyzed sis (Hol k et al. 1981) were far more extensive. They

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changes in the Danube with respect to paleogeogra- covered not only shes but most of limnological aspects

phy, history of water development schemes and other and predicted in more detail the deleterious effects of

anthropogenic factors. Such an analysis was attempted the Gab kovo-Nagymaros project which had become

c

by the VV engineers only shortly before or even after better known by then. Ultimately these studies served

the completion of construction in 1992 1995. We doc- as the basis for a biotechnical project by URBION

umented the signi cance of this inland delta s system of (State Institute of Urbanism and Territorial Planning,

interconnected and seasonally ooding river branches Bratislava) which comes closest to something like an

and oxbow lakes. The importance of considering unof cial environmental impact assessment, never

biological factors when designing such projects, that is,

the need for co-operation between engineers and biol- 7 Rothschein, J. 1974. V stavba vodn ch diel na Dunaji a ich

y y

ogists was stressed repeatedly. In a special epilogue we vplyv na ryb rstvo (Construction of the water works on the

a

pleaded with the engineers to incorporate from the out- Danube and their impact upon the shery). Vodn stavby a ryby

e

set ecological criteria into their design in order to avoid -zborn k refer tov zo semin ra Ichtyologickej sekcie Slovenskej

a a

the predicted negative consequences (Balon 1967).6 zoologickej spolo nosti, Patince 12 14 September 1974: 72 82.

c

8 Bastl, I. 1974. Progn za v voja ichtyocen z po v stavbe

o y o y

vodn ch diel na ceskoslovensko-mad arskom useku Dunaja (Pre-

y

diction of the sh community development after the construction

of the water works in the Czechoslovak-Hungarian stretch of the

6 Several years later EKB, already outside the danger zone, was Danube). Vodn stavby a ryby - zborn k refer tov zo semin ra

e a a

Ichtyologickej sekcie Slovenskej zoologickej spolo nosti, Patince

c

threatened with retaliations should he ever return to his home

12 14 September 1974: 64 71.

country.

10

heeded and again entirely ignored by the VV engineers the bene ts from such a project should outweigh the

(e.g. Hol k 1990b). The general conclusion of this

c detriments .

study ends as follows: The principal negative in uence In Slovakia s Internet homepage on the GWP

of the [GWP] is that the [design] of the project with a one could

diversion canal eliminates the very oodplain which, read in June 1997 that after a commencement of the

together with the arm system, makes up the productive Danube waterworks in 1978, the cooperation between

base of this region and also acts as a sort of biocenotic both counterparts scienti c and skilled institutes was

centre, which determines to a considerable extent very intensive especially on the hydrobiology, hydro-

the [assemblages] of all aquatic organisms in the main virology and zoology. More than 400 research works

channel (Hol k et al. 1981, p. 131). In the following

c and 800 special investigations about the barrage system

year a comprehensive overview of all the ecological problems were elaborated. Nowadays several research

aspects related to the GWP was again presented in the works about actual problems are still carried out. Their

journal of nature conservancy (Hol k 1982).

c results are incorporated in the project . And we fool-

None of it seems to have disturbed the gov- ishly believed that the Ministry of Disinformation of

the former regime was dismantled . . .

ernments and engineers engaged in international

(Czechoslovakia Hungary USSR) agreements and the Apparently under pressure from its environmental

construction design solution (Hol k 1990b). The gov-

c groups, In 1989 the Hungarian counterpart, without

ernment committees for the construction of the Danube previous deliberation with the Czechoslovak gov-

water development scheme formed in 1951 led to the ernment, took the decision to cancel the Nagy-

investment agreement of 1964 which was amended maros waterworks construction and afterwards also

in 1967. Commencement of the common contractual Hungarian contribution to the Gabcikovo water-

project in 1976 led to the construction and management works construction. Therefore, in January 1991 the

agreement of the Gab kovo Nagymaros water project

c Slovak government discussed alternative possibili-

in 1977. Change of deadlines was signed in 1983 as per ties for nishing the waterworks system and they

agreed to preparation of a temporary solution . . .

the article of Jen k (1986) of the Government Of ce.

c

The priorities for the VV (its predecessors or succes- (same Website as above). The temporary solu-

sors Hydrostav, Hydroconsult, Doprastav, etc.) in the tion soon became permanent without further delib-

construction design remained unchanged in spite of eration noted on the Internet. In its homepage published concerns, and focused solely on ood con-

the Hungarian side claims that over the many years of

trols, energy utilization and improvement of navigation

planning of the Gabcikovo Nagymaros Barrage Sys-

for water transport. Both Czechoslovakia and Hungary

tem, some fundamental research and investigation was

at that time endorsed the construction enthusiastically,

not carried out. The contractor prepared the schedule

brushing aside any environmental concerns, as can be

and plans without the involvement and participation of

illustrated best by quoting directly from Doszt nyi a

experts from several elds relevant to the problems to

(1987): Mr. Bruno F. Straub, Vice-President of the

be solved . The Hungarian Dunak r (Danube Circle)

o

Hungarian Academy of Sciences, past chairman of

homepage continues to elaborate the risks of GWP.

the National Council of Environmental Protection and

Soon it all went to the International Court in The

Nature Conservation, which initiated the environmen-

Hague after the Hungarian government asked for

tal impact statement, and presently acting chairman of

legal solution in 1992. (The Court made its rst rul-

the Communal Development and Environmental Pro-

Contact this candidate