Good Water Quality in Lake Balaton

Although, it is not advised to visit the area en masse during the pandemic, experts have found that so far, there is nothing unusual concerning the water of Lake Balaton: it is of good quality as in previous years, and the number of algae is relatively low.

Gergely Boros, senior researcher at the Balaton Limnology Institute of the Ecological Research Center told te Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday that last year, the water tests showed similarly favorable results, but at the end of the summer, an algae bloom took place, so, it is too early to assume that an event similar to last summer cannot happen again this year.

He also said that his institute, based in Tihany, is doing everything possible to monitor the wildlife and water quality of Lake Balaton as thoroughly as possible, but their financial resources for such purposes are scarce. Sampling and testing along the longitudinal axis of the lake are carried out monthly in spring and autumn and every two weeks in the summer. Daily sampling would be expedient, but in order to do this according to international standards, the research institute would need a minimum of HUF 100 million per year in additional funding, he said.

Explaining last year's algae growth, the nutrients necessary to bring the phenomenon about could either enter the lake at some of the estuaries of Lake Balaton, or - more likely - some of the nutrients previously bound there could be mobilized from the lake sediment. However, it is also conceivable that these two effects were simultaneous and prevalent during the critical period.