Country: Hungary
Committee: environmental (ECOSOC)
Topic: Access to water
Delegate: Haoran Li
School: Troy High School
“Water is the driving force of all nature,” Leonardo da Vinci once said. Many countries like Hungary are facing the same issues of the contamination of drinking water. Due to the water crisis in Hungary, over a million Hungarians drink water containing contaminants that increase the risk of serious illness and disease. Furthermore, a recent reservoir failure flooded many towns in Hungary with red toxic mud, which greatly impacted the water quality in Hungary even further. With more than 90 percent of Hungary relying solely on groundwater, and with 47 out of 108 groundwater bodies considered to be “possibly at risk,” the water quality in Hungary remains in jeopardy.
The delegation of Hungary fully recognizes the severity of this issue and has been actively forming solutions over the past few years. One potential solution comes from a European Union-funded project that brings clean drinking water to Hungarian that are affected by the polluted groundwater. We are currently working to complete these projects in time to qualify for 100 billion HUF in financing from the European Union. These projects are the greatest hope to improve water quality in Hungary at this time. Hungary is also cleaning 90 percent of its waste water and upgrading its dam and levee system which, in our current form, are not equipped to deal with the extreme floods expected in the region. The government of Hungary hosted the BWS 2019 summit, 2500 participants from over 118 countries gathered to discuss the issue of water crisis. On crisis prevention, we discussed technology to improve efficiency, promoting water as a tool for peace, behavior change via education of youth, investment that builds resilience, tiered pricing systems, and transboundary water governance. The strategies we adapted from the EU includes allocating water and water-related funding more efficiently: improving land-use planning, and financing water efficiency and fostering water efficiency technologies and practices.
The delegation of Hungary is looking forward to discuss this issue with internationally community and collaborate ideas to form the most beneficial solution to all countries. We recommend other countries to take similar methods and take immediate actions.
Works cited:
https://www.climatechangepost.com/hungary/fresh-water-resources/
https://borgenproject.org/water-quality-in-hungary/，
- Haoran (Sara) Li
