Gabcíkovo - Nagymaros Dams
Encyclopedia
The Gabčíkovo – Nagymaros Dams (more precisely Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Waterworks, , Slovak
: Sústava vodných diel Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros) is a large barrage project on the Danube
. It was initiated by the Budapest Treaty of 16 September 1977 between Czechoslovakia
and Hungary
. Its purposes are to prevent catastrophic floods, to improve river navigability and to produce clean electricity. Only a part of the project has been finished in Slovakia
, under the name Gabčíkovo Dam/Waterworks, because Hungary unilaterally abandoned construction do to environmental concerns. This caused a still unresolved international dispute between Slovakia and Hungary.
, Slovakia (after January 1, 1993 independent Slovak Republic) and Nagymaros
, Hungary. The dams would eliminate regular flooding (like the disastrous ones of 1954 and 1965) and provide a clean source of electric power. They would also allow year-long navigability of the river and serve as a part of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal system of inland navigation.
The plan was to divert part of the river into an artificial canal at Dunakiliti
(a village in Hungary) to the hydroelectric power plant near Gabčíkovo (eight turbines, 720 MW). The canal would return the water into a deepened original riverbed and at Nagymaros a smaller dam and power-plant (158 MW) would be constructed. The plant in Gabčíkovo was to be a peak-power plant and the dam in Nagymaros, about 100 km downstream, was to limit fluctuations of the water level.
Because most of the construction was planned to occur in Slovak territory, the Hungarian government was obligated to participate in some construction in Slovakia, to ensure equal investment by both sides. Electricity produced was to be shared equally between the two countries.
), was founded in Hungary. The group objected to the withholding of information on the project from the public by the Communist government to avoid debate on its environmental impact. In addition to a lack of information, the argument against the dam was danger to the environment and to the water supply of Budapest
. After an intensive campaign the project became widely hated in Hungary as a symbol of the old regime. In Slovakia, construction continued and many people were involved in building the hydro-electric plant. In 1989, when most of the project on the Slovak side had been constructed, the Hungarian government decided to suspend it, without informing the government of Czechoslovakia. This was regarded very negatively there.
After discussion among experts in Czechoslovakia about what to do with the construction site, 7 proposals were put forward in 1992.
In the end it was decided to switch to an alternative solution on a smaller scale, Proposal C. The artificial canal would start at Čunovo
, part of the Slovak capital city Bratislava
, and the Gabčíkovo power plant would operate in run-of-the-river mode with no water level fluctuation. Construction started in November 1991. In October 1992 diversion of part of the water into the canal started and the Čunovo reservoir was filled; the secondary structures (such as the power-plant) were finished and made operational in 1996.
and Nagymaros
and its purpose was to use the gradient of the reservoir for production of electricity and also to allow ships to pass. The Gabčíkovo works were designed for control and peak running of the power plant, and the Nagymaros works as an equalising power plant to provide better conditions for shipping and to regulate peak outflow from Gabčíkovo. Because the Nagymaros works were not built, the Gabčíkovo power plant cannot work at peak efficiency, which causes appreciable economic damage.
Non-existence of Nagymaros dam also causes main obstacle of inland navigation on the 2400 km Danube Pan-European corridor due to low levels of water. Hungary requests Slovakia to manage regulation works on problematic stretch of Danube that had to be solved by Nagymaros backwater. Transportation damages include also missing upgrade of river Váh waterway in Slovakia.
in 1993, the newly established Slovak Republic, as inheritor of the project, submitted the dispute to the International Court of Justice
in The Hague
. In 1994, the Socialists came back into power in Hungary but could hardly back out of the court case, which was hailed as a landmark: for the first time, the court would rule over an environmental dispute. Hearings on the case were held between 3 March and 15 April 1997, and the Court paid a site visit (the first ever in its history). Besides other issues, the Hungarian representatives wanted the court to decide whether or not Czechoslovakia was entitled to embark on Proposal C, and to rule that the 1977 treaty was not binding on Slovakia and Hungary. The court handed down a decision in 1997:
Another 4 months of negotiations between Slovakia and Hungary led to a treaty between the two countries about the ICJ judgment. In March 1998 the government of Slovakia approved this treaty, but the government of Hungary, which was supposed to build Nagymaros or a Pilismarót waterworks, delayed approving the treaty and proclaimed a competition for the project. After elections in Hungary, the new government cancelled this competition. In 1998, after two appeals to Hungary, the Slovak government turned to the International Court, demanding the Nagymaros part be built. As of 2006, the international dispute was still not resolved.
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
: Sústava vodných diel Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros) is a large barrage project on the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. It was initiated by the Budapest Treaty of 16 September 1977 between Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Its purposes are to prevent catastrophic floods, to improve river navigability and to produce clean electricity. Only a part of the project has been finished in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, under the name Gabčíkovo Dam/Waterworks, because Hungary unilaterally abandoned construction do to environmental concerns. This caused a still unresolved international dispute between Slovakia and Hungary.
Budapest Treaty
The joint Hungarian-Czechoslovak project was agreed upon on 16 September 1977 in the "Budapest Treaty". The treaty envisioned a cross-border barrage system between the towns of GabčíkovoGabcíkovo
Gabčíkovo is a municipality in Slovakia. It has around 5,100 inhabitants of whom 90% are Hungarians.The Hungarian name of the village was first recorded in 1102 as Beys and preserves the name of its erstwhile pecheneg inhabitants, pecheneg being besenyő in Hungarian...
, Slovakia (after January 1, 1993 independent Slovak Republic) and Nagymaros
Nagymaros
- External links :*...
, Hungary. The dams would eliminate regular flooding (like the disastrous ones of 1954 and 1965) and provide a clean source of electric power. They would also allow year-long navigability of the river and serve as a part of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal system of inland navigation.
The plan was to divert part of the river into an artificial canal at Dunakiliti
Dunakiliti
Dunakiliti is a village in Győr-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.- External links :*...
(a village in Hungary) to the hydroelectric power plant near Gabčíkovo (eight turbines, 720 MW). The canal would return the water into a deepened original riverbed and at Nagymaros a smaller dam and power-plant (158 MW) would be constructed. The plant in Gabčíkovo was to be a peak-power plant and the dam in Nagymaros, about 100 km downstream, was to limit fluctuations of the water level.
Because most of the construction was planned to occur in Slovak territory, the Hungarian government was obligated to participate in some construction in Slovakia, to ensure equal investment by both sides. Electricity produced was to be shared equally between the two countries.
Limited project
In 1981 Hungary asked for a slowdown of the project because of economic problems. In 1984 a movement protesting against the dam, the "Danube Circle" (Duna KörDuna Kör
Duna Kör is a Hungarian environmental organization founded in 1984 as a protest body to prevent the construction of the Gabčíkovo – Nagymaros Dams. Founder was biologist János Vargha. The organization was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1985....
), was founded in Hungary. The group objected to the withholding of information on the project from the public by the Communist government to avoid debate on its environmental impact. In addition to a lack of information, the argument against the dam was danger to the environment and to the water supply of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. After an intensive campaign the project became widely hated in Hungary as a symbol of the old regime. In Slovakia, construction continued and many people were involved in building the hydro-electric plant. In 1989, when most of the project on the Slovak side had been constructed, the Hungarian government decided to suspend it, without informing the government of Czechoslovakia. This was regarded very negatively there.
After discussion among experts in Czechoslovakia about what to do with the construction site, 7 proposals were put forward in 1992.
In the end it was decided to switch to an alternative solution on a smaller scale, Proposal C. The artificial canal would start at Čunovo
Cunovo
Čunovo is a small part of Bratislava, Slovakia, in the southern area near the Hungarian border. It is located close to the Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Dams.- History :...
, part of the Slovak capital city Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, and the Gabčíkovo power plant would operate in run-of-the-river mode with no water level fluctuation. Construction started in November 1991. In October 1992 diversion of part of the water into the canal started and the Čunovo reservoir was filled; the secondary structures (such as the power-plant) were finished and made operational in 1996.
Built parts
- Supply channel for Čunovo Dam conveys water from Bratislava about 10 km to Čunovo.
- Čunovo Dam is the first level of the Waterworks, producing 24 MW of electricity, and there is an additional smaller power plant with 1 MW power output. Čunovo includes also the Čunovo Water Sports Centre, a site of world championships in water slalom and rafting.
- Hrušov reservoir (replacing the joint Slovak-Hungarian Dunakiliti reservoir) accumulates water for the main power plant in Gabčíkovo and also regulates water level. It is 16 km long and from 1 to 4 km wide. Its capacity is 196 million cubic metres. As part of the Proposal C redesign, the reservoir was reduced in size and separated from Hungarian territory by a 10.5 km long embankment.
- Gabčíkovo Dam is the main part of the waterworks. It consists of two main structures: a hydropower plant and two lock chambers. This level of the waterworks was designed to use differential water level to produce electricity, to allow ships to pass safely through locks and to divert flood water. The chambers are on the left bank of the Danube and the difference in water levels is about 20 metres. The power plant on the right riverbank was designed to produce 2650 GWh annually. A 10 m wide road bridge passes over the complex. Operation of the power plant is fully automated.
- Outlet channel leads water back to the old riverbed and also helps against floods. The channel is 185 m wide at the bottom and 8.2 km long and re-enters the Danube at SapSap (village)Sap is a village and municipality in the Dunajská Streda District in the Trnava Region of south-west Slovakia. The outlet channel of the Gabčíkovo – Nagymaros Dams re-enters the Danube at the village.-History:...
. - Control works in the old Danube riverbed.
Nagymaros
The waterworks on the Danube were designed to have an additional level at Nagymaros, consisting of a reservoir 95 km long and the Nagymaros power plant. This level was to be located between the Hungarian towns of VisegrádVisegrád
Visegrád is a small castle town in Pest County, Hungary.Situated north of Budapest on the right bank of the Danube in the Danube Bend, Visegrád has a population 1,654 as of 2001...
and Nagymaros
Nagymaros
- External links :*...
and its purpose was to use the gradient of the reservoir for production of electricity and also to allow ships to pass. The Gabčíkovo works were designed for control and peak running of the power plant, and the Nagymaros works as an equalising power plant to provide better conditions for shipping and to regulate peak outflow from Gabčíkovo. Because the Nagymaros works were not built, the Gabčíkovo power plant cannot work at peak efficiency, which causes appreciable economic damage.
Non-existence of Nagymaros dam also causes main obstacle of inland navigation on the 2400 km Danube Pan-European corridor due to low levels of water. Hungary requests Slovakia to manage regulation works on problematic stretch of Danube that had to be solved by Nagymaros backwater. Transportation damages include also missing upgrade of river Váh waterway in Slovakia.
Lawsuit
In 1989 Hungary abandoned the site and in May 1992 tried to terminate the 1977 treaty. After Czechoslovakia split upDissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation, became...
in 1993, the newly established Slovak Republic, as inheritor of the project, submitted the dispute to the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. In 1994, the Socialists came back into power in Hungary but could hardly back out of the court case, which was hailed as a landmark: for the first time, the court would rule over an environmental dispute. Hearings on the case were held between 3 March and 15 April 1997, and the Court paid a site visit (the first ever in its history). Besides other issues, the Hungarian representatives wanted the court to decide whether or not Czechoslovakia was entitled to embark on Proposal C, and to rule that the 1977 treaty was not binding on Slovakia and Hungary. The court handed down a decision in 1997:
- Hungary was not allowed in 1989 to stop and later abandon its share of the work on the Waterworks according to the 1977 treaty and its attached implements;
- Czechoslovakia was allowed to prepare and build alternative provisional solution, Proposal C, in November 1991, but it was not allowed to unilaterally begin operation of Proposal C in October 1992;
- Hungary's notification of withdrawal from the 1977 treaty on 19 May 1992 did not in fact terminate the treaty, and the treaty is therefore still valid and binding on both parties;
- Slovakia, as a successor to Czechoslovakia, became a party to the 1977 treaty; and
- In the event that Hungary and Slovakia could not find a solution through negotiations, Hungary was required to pay damages to Slovakia.
Another 4 months of negotiations between Slovakia and Hungary led to a treaty between the two countries about the ICJ judgment. In March 1998 the government of Slovakia approved this treaty, but the government of Hungary, which was supposed to build Nagymaros or a Pilismarót waterworks, delayed approving the treaty and proclaimed a competition for the project. After elections in Hungary, the new government cancelled this competition. In 1998, after two appeals to Hungary, the Slovak government turned to the International Court, demanding the Nagymaros part be built. As of 2006, the international dispute was still not resolved.
Technical parameters
- The area of the Čunovo reservoir is 40 km², exclusively on the Slovak side (the original Hrušov-Dunakiliti reservoir was to be 60 km²). The operational water level is 131.1 metres above sea level (minimal and maximum levels are 129 and 131.5 m respectively).
- The power station has eight vertical Kaplan turbineKaplan turbineThe Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by the Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and...
s with runners 9.3 m in diameter and a maximum capacity of 90 MW each. Total capacity is 720 MW at operational discharge of 4000 m3/s. Water level differences are 24 and 12.88 m. - The original river bed has a discharge of between 250 and 600 m3/s.
- Two navigation locks were built. A bypass canal will handle floods.
- In 1996, Europe's largest artificial whitewaterArtificial whitewaterAn artificial whitewater course is a site for whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater racing, whitewater rafting, playboating and slalom canoeing with artificially generated rapids.-Flow diversion:...
slalom course, the Water Sports Centre ČunovoWater Sports Centre CunovoThe Water Sports Centre Čunovo is an artificial whitewater slalom course in Slovakia, on an island in the Danube river, 14 km southeast of Bratislava, near the village of Čunovo. It is powered by flow diversion from the Čunovo dam...
, was built on a river island at the head of the bypass canal. When operating at capacity, it diverts 22 m3/s into the bypass canal. - The Gabčíkovo Hydroelectric Power Station produces 2600 GWh of electricity annually, making it the largest hydroelectric plant in Slovakia. It supplies around 8% of the country's electricity consumption.
Environmental consequences
The threatened ecological catastrophe did not materialise during the following years; on the contrary, the Waterworks fixed several environmental problems in the region:- Protection of the area against floods, which caused big damages in the past;
- Regulation of the water level of Danube, which means year-round navigability of the river;
- Stabilisation of the stream means improved environmental parameters: improved quality of potable water and stopping falling groundwater level (which improves conditions for agriculture and stops desiccation of floodplain forests, as a result of closing up meanders);
- stabilisation of the bottom and stream of the Danube.
Trivia
The switchyard of the power station is disguised on Google Maps http://maps.google.com/maps?&z=11&ll=47.8841756,17.5415611&t=k.External links
- Treaty between the Hungarian People´s Republic and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic concerning the construction and operation of the Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros system of locks
- Documents about the Gabčíkovo dam and its impact (alternative link)
- Details of the conflict over the project (PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
) - Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law, Peace Palace Library
- Annual reports on environmental monitoring
- Gabčíkovo Dam Virtual Tour