Gabčíkovo–Nagymaros Dams

Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Dams

Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Dams (more exactly Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Waterworks) is a large barrage project on river Danube. Only a part of the project has been finished - under the name Gabčíkovo Dam/Waterworks.

Budapest Treaty

The project, involving Hungary and Czechoslovakia, was agreed on September 16 1977 ("Budapest Treaty"). The treaty envisioned a cross-border barrage system between the towns Gabčíkovo, Slovakia (After January 1, 1993 Slovak Republic independent) and Nagymaros, Hungary. The dams would eliminate regular floodings (like those disastrous ones in 1954 and 1965) and provide clean source of electric power. They would also allow year-long navigability of the river and serve as a part of Rhine-Main-Danube Canal.

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.

Limited project

In 1981 Hungary asked for slowdown of the project because of economic problems. In 1984 a movement protesting against the dam, the "Danubian Circle", was founded. 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 the other side, the project was built with enthusiasm and it became a kind of national project in Slovakia, because many people of many professions from whole country were involved. In 1989, when most of the project on Slovak side was constructed, the Hungarian government decided to suspend it, without announcing the government of Czechoslovakia. This was considered very negatively there.

After discussion of specialists in Czechoslovakia, about what to do with the construction site, 7 variants were possible in 1992. One of them was also to abandom the building, but because of the big progress, it was evaluated as not acceptable. At the end it was decided to switch to an alternative solution on a smaller scale, known as Variant C, which meaned to reduce the reservoir, to build the Waterworks only at the territory of Slovak Republic and to postpone the construction of Nagymaros. The Variant A (to finish the original plans from 1977), still stayed as the best one. The artificial canal would start at Čunovo, part of the capital city Bratislava, and the Gabčíkovo power plant would operate in run-of-the-river mode with no water level fluctuation. Construction of the Variant C started in November 1991. In October 1992 diversion of a part of the water into the canal started and the Čunovo reservoir was filled; the secondary structures (as the power-plant) were finished and made operational in 1996.

Lawsuit

In May 1992 Hungary officially terminated the 1977 treaty. In 1993, after Czecho-Slovakia split up, the new established Slovak republic, as the heritor of the project, submitted the dispute to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Hearings in the case were held between 3 March and 15 April 1997, and the Court paid a site visit (the first ever in its history) to the site of construction. In the dispute, the representatives of Hungaria wanted, besides other things, to arbitrate, that Czechoslovakia was not entitled to begin with Variant C and that the 1977 treaty has never been valid between Slovakia and Hungary.

In its judgment of 25 September 1997 none of this Hungarian demands were validated, the Court stated that the 1977 Budapest Treaty is still valid, and also binding for Hungary, which was not entitled to stop construction and has to compensate the damages to Slovak republic.

Another 4 months were negotiations between Slovakia and Hungaria in progress, which leaded to a treaty about the judgement. In March 1998 the government of Slovakia approved this treaty, but the government of Hungary, which was supposed to build Nagymaros or a spare Waterworks Pilismarót, delayed to approve the treaty and proclaimed a competition for the project. After elections in Hungary the new government canceled 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 is still not resolved.

Technical parameters

Gabčíkovo sluice

• The area of the Čunovo reservoir is 40 km², exclusively on Slovak side (the original Hrušov-Dunakiliti reservoir was to be 60 km²). The operational water level is 131.1 meters above sea level (minimal and maximum levels are 129 and 131.5 m respectively).
• The power station has eight vertical Kaplan turbines 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 - 600 m³/s.
• Two navigation locks were built. A bypass canal will handle floods.
• In 1996, Europe's largest artificial whitewater slalom course, the Water Sports Centre Čunovo, 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 covers around 11% of electricity consumption of the country.

Environmental consequences

The threat of ecological catastrophe did not materialize during the following years; on the contrary, the Waterworks fixed several environmental problems in the territory:

• Protection of the area against floods, which caused big damages in the past;
• Regulation of water level of Danube, which means navigability of the river during whole year;
• Stabilization of the stream means improving environmental parameters: improving quality of potable water and stopping decreasing of groundwater level (improving conditions for agriculture and stopping desiccation of floodplain forests, as a result of closing up meanders);
• stabilization of the bottom and stream of the Danube river.

See also

• List of crossings of the Danube River

Literature

• Chmelár, V.: Dunaj energetický, vyd. Electra Žilina, 1992

External links

• Treaty from february 1998
• Documents about the Gabčíkovo dam and its impact (alternative link)
• Details of the conflict over the project (PDF)
• Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law Peace Palace Library