Hungarian volunteers build small dams to hold onto vanishing water

Residents and foresters are restoring water-retention structures amid drought and a national shift from draining land to conserving moisture.

In Hungary’s eastern Ladany Valley, foresters and Water Guardians Movement volunteers are arranging logs and deadwood in terraces to hold water on the slopes. Elsewhere, volunteers are building small barriers across streams. They hope the measures will help retain moisture and restore wetlands.

Forest engineer Bence Bardos told Reuters that wells on his farm had almost run dry. Residents cannot change the climate, he said, but small local projects can slow runoff and retain water. Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, a professor, said that straightening and regulating rivers speeds up their flow and contributes to lower groundwater levels.

In August, Hungary’s government announced a strategy that prioritizes natural water-retention methods. It includes deliberately flooding some agricultural land. Drought has already affected farming: researcher Zoltan Kende said that this year, for the first time, the harvested area of maize fell below the area planted with sunflowers, although the latter crop was also damaged by dry weather.

Hungary’s central bank estimated that damage to agriculture could reduce economic growth in 2026 by 0.4 percentage points. Reuters also reported on a creek near the home of Ladany Valley resident Borbala Kanizsay, which dried up in May for the first time she could remember.