After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released information concerning the questionable quality of Hungarian drinking water, the Orbán government did what they do best: they denied the problem and started a propaganda campaign to discredit the CDC. (Read here.)
The CDC recommendation is clear. In a health advisory for travelers to Hungary they do not recommend drinking tap or well water, or consuming ice or drinks made with tap or well water. Instead it is safe to drink bottled water that is sealed and disinfected, ice made with bottled or disinfected water, carbonated drinks, hot coffee or tea. (Read here the CDC recommendations.)
Hungary’s President János Áder at the 2016 Budapest Water Summit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade informed CDC that claims regarding the quality of drinking water “are completely without foundation” and the report is “completely erroneous and misleading.” Embassy officials in Washington consulted with “competent officers of the CDC” and learned that the recommendations are based on the UN’s Human Development Index. According to Hungary none of those parameters relate to the quality of drinking water. Furthermore Hungary regularly monitors tap water and the general adequacy rate was 97.7% in 2015. This is all from Hungarian sources; the CDC has not commented on the report or confirmed the meeting with the Hungarians.
I don’t know what “general adequacy” means but Budapest still have lots of old buildings with lead pipes. Hungarian weekly HVG just published a long article about the possible lead contamination in the drinking water. (Read here in Hungarian.)
Hungary has handled the CDC response poorly. It doesn’t not show diplomatic sophistication to label the US agency’s report “misleading,” “without foundation” and “completely erroneous.”
Orbán mega-loyalist, UN Ambassador Katalin Bogyay sent out a tweet – Tap water’s quality in Hungary is excellent, actually very good to drink! Excellent? Even government sources admit that “further improvement of the quality of drinking water” requires attention in “a few localities.” By the way, Ms. Bogyay spends most of her time in New York, where she is a diplomat, and in London, where her family lives. It seems to me that her tweet is the one “misleading” and “without foundation.”
Amb. Katalin Bogyay’s tweet
The question is: who do you believe regarding tap water safety in Hungary? To the CDC advisory or Hungarian politicians?
For me the answer is obvious; I will stick to bottled water in Hungary.
György Lázár
