Lowland Runoff Survey and Modeling for Decision Support in Management of the Transboundary Palic-Ludas Catchment Area

Abstract

Palic and Ludas lakes are located in the northern part of Vojvodina, Serbia near the town of Subotica, just a few kilometers south of the Hungarian border. While Palic lake has a long history as a tourist attraction and a nice recreational setting, Ludas lake and the surrounding steppe plains are habitats of international importance and protected by the Ramsar convention on wetlands. The lakes are connected through the Palic-Ludas canal. Thus Ludas lake is fed partially from Palic lake, but also supplied by the Körös river. The majority of the catchment area of the Körös river is in Hungary, this way the water supply problems related to the lakes are transboundary. The lake system is also drained by the Körös, which finally enters the Tisza river. Water quality problems and water quantity decrease are both identified and are escalating threatening factors at the lake system in the past decades. Several studies have been carried out in the past about the possible reasons and solutions. The authors have studied the previously published results and have been participating in a cross-border cooperation project funded by the IPA, in frame of which a comprehensive survey and measurement program has been carried out in order to develop, among others, a rainfall-runoff model of the catchment for the investigation of water supply scenarios of the lake system in order to substantiate a monitoring network and program for the sustainable management of the lakes. In our article we introduce the area, the problem, the field surveying and measurement methodologies and results, the modeling process and the model itself, concluding transboundary responsibility for water supply to the lake system, with a possible complex connection to one of Hungary’s major water management issues.