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 sailing and swimming, experts said.
On a recent warm day, children played on newly exposed sand banks reaching far beyond the lake's usual shoreline, while rental boats were moored at a jetty now far from the water and resting on the sand.
The lake's water level measured 56 cm (22 inches) on Wednesday at the town of Agard, data from the National Directorate General for Water Management showed, just 3 cm (1.18 inches) above an historic low of 53 cm (20.8 inches) recorded in 2022, the last year when Hungary was hit by an extreme drought. In the early months of 2026, the water level hovered around 80 cm (31.5 inches).
Without substantial rainfall, the water level could decline by half a centimeter (around 0.2 inches) daily, reaching as low as 30 cm (11.8 inches) 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 attributed the problem not only to climate change but 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.
"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."
