Hungary's Lake Velence drying up already, threatening tourism and wildlife

The water level of Hungary's third-largest lake is expected to drop to new lows this summer due to climate change and decades of water mismanagement, threatening its ecosystem and tourism industry, experts and locals said.

Lake Velence, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Budapest, is a popular holiday destination but its water level could soon be too low for the sailing and swimming it is so famous for, experts said.

On a recent warm day, children played on newly exposed sandbanks which reach far beyond the lake's usual shoreline, while rental boats were moored at a jetty now high and dry, leaving them resting on the sand.

The lake's water level measured 56 cm on Wednesday at the town of Agard, according to data from the National Directorate General for Water Management, just 3 cm above an historic low of 53 cm recorded in 2022 - the last year Hungary was hit by an extreme drought. In the early months of 2026, the water level hovered around 80 cm.

Without substantial rainfall, the water level could decline by half a centimeter daily, reaching as low as 30 cm by summer's end, experts warned.

"The water level will drop at least 25-30 cm in the next 30-40 days, and the historic low will be broken within days," Tibor Horanyi from the Association of Great Lakes told Reuters.

Horanyi said the problem was not only climate change but also decades of flawed water management, such as draining wetlands for agricultural use.

The disruption has already impacted businesses. Sailing instructor Peter Szaniszlo has begun relocating his operations to Lake Balaton, and some of the shops and food stores were boarded up already.

"People who wanted to learn sailing mostly chose me because Lake Velence is near Budapest. Now they need to travel to Balaton," he said.

Last week, Environmental Minister Laszlo Gajdos met with local NGOs, mayors, and water management experts to address the lake's future.

Gajdos said in a Facebook post that the government aims to improve water quality, implement sustainable water replenishment and rehabilitate the shoreline environment.

However, figuring out how to replenish the water in Lake Velence will take time, Arpad Pal Eotvos, mayor of Gardony, a town on the lake, told Reuters.

"We will have to learn to live with this," Eotvos said. "As the climate changes, we will also need to change."

Production: Krisztina Fenyo, Anna Lubowicka/Reuters