Without collecting rainwater, we will not be able to cope with drought in the future

In the future, we will have to grab every drop of water in order to survive. (Photo: Pixabay)

Pollen fields, parched cornfields, salty soil, fallen leaves and yellowness. Dried up riverbeds, soil fragmented into mosaics and the ominously shrinking Lake Venice. The scenes reminiscent of a disaster film have now become reality, climate change is happening before our eyes, this is what Fókusz’s report shows. The heatwave and rainless weather caused an extraordinary drought in Hungary. The plants are withering, the meadows are empty, and in many places there are hardly any leaves left on the trees. From this point of view, early autumn is already here in the middle of summer. Dr. Lajos Aponyi, secretary general of the Chamber of Herbal Medicine, said that the fruit trees have started to drop their leaves, but the fruit drop is already very significant. On the part of the trees, this is a defense option, so they try to save their lives by making the evaporation surface as small as possible. But not only fruit trees, beech trees, oak trees and several pine trees also have a hard time with this increasingly Mediterranean climate. Grapes and kiwi, on the other hand, especially enjoy the extreme heat.

Can we be a kiwi major power in Europe?!

According to climate researcher Erik Kovács, a few decades ago it would have been unthinkable that Hungary would have the largest kiwi plantation in Central Europe, today we only have to go as far as Zala county for it. The current types of corn and wheat will not simply grow, especially from the second half of the century. Therefore, it is necessary to breed hybrids and varieties whose heat and drought tolerance are much better than those of today. said the researcher.
Livestock farming can be in big trouble if not, or feed will be expensive
According to Lajos Aponyi, if there is not enough feed for the animals due to the drought, they must be slaughtered. – First of all, it affects cattle and sheep, but if there will be less or if grain crops become so expensive, then it will also affect the size of pig and poultry farms. In Hungary, the livestock population is already much lower than what would be optimal, but if it decreases even further, food prices will definitely rise. he added.
Drought also causes serious problems in Western Transdanubia
Lake Venice has never been so close to drying up, its water level dropped to a record low a few days ago. The lowest numbers were measured 73 years ago, when the water was 64 centimeters according to the Agárd gauge. Today, he is only 61. Of course, the almost unrelenting heat wave does not help the situation either. According to experts, the tendency to drought will only intensify in the future, and climate models for temperature show that the persistent summer heat experienced now will continue in the coming years. This summer we had roughly 20 persistently warm days, and it could be even more in the coming years.
The climate scientist warns that according to all forecasts, temperatures will continue to rise, both seasonally and year-round. From the second half of the century, there may be up to 20-30 days where the temperature rises above 35 degrees. It is almost impossible to imagine what will happen then, as the current state is already shocking. A significant amount of precipitation is missing, which was felt not only this year, but also last year.

Can the Pacific Ocean do everything?

We tried to track down the global causes of the drought with climate researchers. According to Dr. Erik Kovács, the problem originates from the Pacific Ocean. Globally, we can see that since 2020, the waters of the Pacific Ocean, which accounts for a third of the Earth’s water supply, have been about 3-5 degrees cooler than usual. For this reason, sufficient water vapor, which is needed for precipitation, does not enter the atmosphere during evaporation. In the temperate climate zone, the atmosphere is deficient in moisture, meaning that more falls than evaporates back. The temperate zone solves this by adding water vapor from the tropics to the western wind region via small channels, so-called conveyor belts,” explained Erik Kovács. However, what would arrive from the tropics no longer arrives in Hungary in the form of water vapor, i.e. clouds, because it dries out over the Sahara and the Rocky Mountains on the way. According to the researcher, as in the past, years of extreme drought were usually replaced by rainy years, this can be expected for the time being as well. However, as a result of climate change, we see that there will be many more dry season years than wet season years. Precipitation, on the other hand, is it will be typical for the autumn-winter period, the summers will become drier in the following years. According to the specialist, one should be prepared for the fact that in the coming years, together with the drought, the amount of sudden precipitation will increase. In other words, more and more intense, sudden rain can be expected, 1-2 months worth of precipitation, roughly 120 millimeters, can fall in a few hours.

We must learn to use water properly

Dalma Dedák, WWF’s environmental policy expert, said that long periods of drought and sudden downpours are extremely unevenly distributed in space and time, so we must prepare to be able to store sudden showers in the future. – We have to use the showers that we diverted so far, we have to use the inland water that we have also diverted, we have to use the floods, which until now we considered the most terrible damage. We must learn to utilize these surplus waters in such a way as to help them during the drought. he said. Even rainwater should be collected at home, as it may also happen that water restrictions are introduced nationally, as happened in several cities this year. Of course, this is not the case only in Hungary, the heat and lack of water are destroying almost all of Europe. In France, water usage restrictions are in effect, some parts of Italy’s most important water source, the Po River, have completely dried up. According to the researchers, it is worth preparing for increasingly drier and hotter summers and all the difficulties associated with the transition. But even in the following years, life in Europe did not take root in the second half of the century. New animal species, such as new types of rodents, may become established, and agriculture must also adapt to drought-tolerant production. It is necessary to experiment with seeds that can be sown in slowly desertifying and drying countries. Because otherwise we have to count on famine even in the whole of Europe.

RTL Klub’s video report is right here