European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 27, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Hungary Thermal Waters running out for Budapest s spas by Nick Thorpe London observer service in the Cavern beneath Bela Bartok Street in Budapest the temperature is 100 degrees and the humidity is close to 100 percent. Down Steps thickly covered with flakes of Dolomite you eventually reach water hot water at 323 feet above sea level. It s an abandoned Bathhouse beneath the hotel Wellert in Budapest close to the River Danube. This in t Ordinary water it s karst water the Rainwater heated up Between layers of Karstic rocks to gush Back to the surface. It is this water which led the romans to Settle Here and Call their City Aqui cum and on which the modern City has built a thriving tourist Industry of medicinal Baths. Today the Waters Are in grave danger. A Century of overuse of Bauxite and Coal mines the desire of Public and private companies for More spas to attract More health visitors and the belief Only recently shattered that the underground Waters were unlimited have combined with 20 years of drought to threaten the Thermal wafers not Only of Budapest but of All Hungary. If the Thermal Waters fall below a certain level the Danube will flow in Cooling and polluting the Waters and destroying the Thermal water treasure forever. We Are on a knife Edge says or. Istvan Sarvary a senior researcher at Budapest s water resources research Center Vitucki and you cannot live on a knife Edge for  about 2.1 million cubic feet a Day reached the surface a Century ago now less than half that is available with the use of infinitely More technology. The greatest culprit for the past 40 years has been mining. The karst Waters of Hungary run in an unbroken line 100 Miles Southwest from Budapest to he Viz near Lake Balaton. Between the two was a Bauxite mine from which in order to get to the Ore most of the water was pumped out. The result was that the Thermal water Supply to the he Viz Baths was More than halved. Although that mine closed in 1990, the Dorog Coal mine near Budapest still pumps away More water than is used by All the Thermal Baths of Budapest put together and twice As much As its permit stipulates during the communist years even University professors said we were sitting on a hot water Lake which could be tapped into at will Sarvary said. A tourist brochure published in 1982 said Only 2 percent of the available resources were being used. During nine years from the mid-1960s, 292 new Thermal Wells were drilled in Hungary. Another source of pressure on the dwindling Supply comes from the thirst of if Thermal Waters under Budapest fall below a certain level the Danube flows in. The Mineral water Trade. Bought up by foreign giants such As Pepsi cola and the austrian firm Franken Brunnen Large quantities of Budapest Mineral water Are neatly bottled and exported. Yet Hungary was recently mentioned among 30 countries listed by the . Food and agriculture organisation where the water Supply is critical. All is not yet lost. A new plan drawn up by Sarvary s team will reduce the amount that mines Thermal Baths and Mineral water bottlers can use. Ordinary swimming Baths will have to clean and reuse their water. If the plan is adhered to Budapest s Thermal Waters could regain their old vigor if not they could be lost within a decade. Distributed by scr put Howard Newt service Ramstein main services open 7 Days a week october 28 december 24 located in the Ramstein by courtyard bldg. 1101 different vendors featuring a variety of great Christmas gifts. Crystal & porcelain German wines dutch cheeses Christmas ornaments baskets & tapestries Holiday fashions leather goods & jewelry music boxes & jewelry boxes nutcrackers & cuckoo clocks paintings & Wood burnings chess sets plus much More . -0 00 19 00 sat.,.m .10 00 20 00 Sun. 11 00-18 00 army & air Fores Exchange service 22 stripes Magazine october 27, 1994