Lake Balaton, near Czopak
Source: Spectrum Colour Library
The 596 km2 area of Lake Balaton (Site 283 on Map 9.7) in Hungary makes it the largest lake in Central Europe. It acts as a major tourist attraction and provides important facilities in summer, whilst forming a winter refuge for wetland birds 70 000 geese, 30 000 ducks and 10 000 coots. In 1989 the lake was designated a part-time Ramsar site for October to April. Former water level fluctuations have now been more or less eliminated by regulation at the outflow canal leading from the lake, as an aid to navigation, lakeside recreation and agriculture. The annual catch amounts to 1200 tonnes, mostly comprising bream (75 per cent) and pike-perch (15 per cent) and with important catches of eels. The lake is also used extensively by anglers, with 115 000 permits issued in 1986 (Hollis and Jones, 1990). In summer the resident population of the lakeside of 250 000 swells to some 860 000 with visitors and tourists. This pattern became established during the 195075 period and eutrophication of the lake became a serious problem as a result of the growing use of fertilisers and inputs of phosphorus from sewage discharges from lakeside towns and tourist developments. Algal blooms became particularly frequent in the most polluted western parts of the lake. There is now a pollution control programme in place to reduce environmental impacts. Sewage treatment with phosphorus removal facilities has improved. Agricultural pollutants in the Zala River at the southwest end of the lake are now retained in a newly constructed series of reservoirs comprising a wetland complex of almost 15 000 ha of open water, reedbeds and Salix scrub, 1400 ha of which are designated a Ramsar site. Other provisions for improving water quality in the lake include the establishment of reservoirs on other major tributaries feeding the lake, diversion away from the lake of treated effluent produced in recreational areas, selected removal of phosphorus-rich lake sediment and the control of wastes from large stock-rearing units.
The annual catch amounts to 1200 tonnes, mostly comprising bream (75 per cent) and pike-perch (15 per cent) and with important catches of eels. The lake is also used extensively by anglers, with 115 000 permits issued in 1986 (Hollis and Jones, 1990).
In summer the resident population of the lakeside of 250 000 swells to some 860 000 with visitors and tourists. This pattern became established during the 195075 period and eutrophication of the lake became a serious problem as a result of the growing use of fertilisers and inputs of phosphorus from sewage discharges from lakeside towns and tourist developments. Algal blooms became particularly frequent in the most polluted western parts of the lake. There is now a pollution control programme in place to reduce environmental impacts. Sewage treatment with phosphorus removal facilities has improved. Agricultural pollutants in the Zala River at the southwest end of the lake are now retained in a newly constructed series of reservoirs comprising a wetland complex of almost 15 000 ha of open water, reedbeds and Salix scrub, 1400 ha of which are designated a Ramsar site. Other provisions for improving water quality in the lake include the establishment of reservoirs on other major tributaries feeding the lake, diversion away from the lake of treated effluent produced in recreational areas, selected removal of phosphorus-rich lake sediment and the control of wastes from large stock-rearing units.