The evaluation, visualization of environmental data from long-term monitoring, and making them accessible in a processed form in user-friendly interfaces on the Internet are important tasks of our ...time. The pollution of groundwater resources in settlements is a global phenomenon, the mitigation of which requires a number of environmental measures. In this study, water quality changes following the construction of a sewerage network were examined in the course of long-term monitoring between 2013 and 2022, during which 40 municipal groundwater wells were regularly sampled. Classifying the monitoring data into pollution categories based on water quality index (WQI) and degree of contamination index (Cd), a high degree of contamination was found in the period before the installation of the sewerage network (2014), as the majority of the wells were classified as contaminated and heavily contaminated. In the monitoring period following the installation of the sewerage network, a significant positive change was found in the case of most of the water chemical parameters tested (EC, NH
, NO
, NO
, PO
). Based on interpolated maps, it was found that an increasing part of the area shows satisfactory or good water quality. This was confirmed by the discriminant analysis as well, as it is possible to determine with an accuracy of 80.4% whether the given sample originates from the period before or after the installation of the sewerage network based on the given water chemical parameters. However, 8 years after setting up the sewerage network, the concentration of inorganic nitrogen forms and organic matter remains high, indicating that the accumulated pollutants in the area are still present. To understand the dynamics of purification processes, additional, long-term monitoring is necessary. Making these data available to members of the society can contribute to appropriate environmental measures and strategies.
The provision of webGIS-based water quality data services has become a priority area for both the public and administrative sectors in the context of the pandemic emergency associated with the global ...spread of COVID-19. Current geographic, monitoring and decision supporting systems, typically based on web-based geospatial information, greatly facilitate the sharing of spatial and temporal data from environmental databases and real-time analyses. In the present study, different water quality indices are determined, compared and geovisualized, during which the changes in the quality of the shallow groundwater resources of a settlement are examined in the period (2011–2019) in an eastern Hungarian settlement. Another objective of the research is to determine three water quality indices (Water Quality Index, CCME Water Quality Index, Contamination degree) and categorize water samples based on the same input spatial and temporal data using self-developed freely available geovisualization tools. Groundwater quality was assessed by using different water quality indices. Significant pollution of the groundwater in the time period before the installation of a sewage network was shown. Regarding water quality, significant positive changes were shown based on all three water quality indices in the years after installing a sewage network (2015–2019). The presence of pollution apart from the positive changes suggests that the purification processes will last for a long time.
Observing reactions and responses to climate change worldwide, we think climate policies cannot exert their impact sufficiently. Consequently, studying the climate policy paradigms (CPPs) shaped by ...the dominant environmental ideas and climate objectives is essential. This paper analyses the CPPs in the Visegrad Countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) (V4). We investigated the strategic background and implementation related to climate policies by studying the CPPs' different levels. Our research comprises two components:
1. Analysis of national climate strategies and plans (n = 9) to reveal documented policy goals.
2. In-depth interviews (n = 58) to explore the implementation of policy goals and strategic principles. According to our results, the V4's climate strategy documents (CSDs) align with global climate policy efforts and follow EU standards. However, we have found contradictions between the policy goals and their implementation. Our findings show that CSDs are only partial indicators of the CPPs, and all four countries have gaps between ideas and the realization of climate actions. One of the main reasons is that V4 prioritizes national economic interest and energy security. Consequently, the climate policy paradigm takes a back seat. The other inhibiting factors are the lack of social will and the shortcomings of climate governance.
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•The V4 has taken significant steps in climate policy over the past decade.•Policy implementation does not fully match climate policy goals.•Obstacles are economic interest, lack of social will, and institutional failures.•Poland’s coal reliance drives pronounced policy gaps.•Climate strategies serve as superficial indicators of climate policy paradigms.
This article discusses one of the most important social factors of climate protection: climate concern. Most research in this area focuses on North America and Western Europe or presents ...international comparative statistics. Our work is innovative because we have designated a lesser-known post-socialist region in East-Central Europe as a sample area, and we intend to conduct in-depth analyses at the municipal level. Our study describes the second largest city in Hungary, Debrecen, and its agglomeration. Based on a questionnaire survey in 2020 (N = 512), we examined opinion factors, and we have presented features consistent with or different from the findings in the relevant literature. In the statistical analysis, chi-square tests and binary logistic regressions were applied to reveal significant differences between the responses of different types of respondents. As response variables, we used the questions about general concerns regarding air pollution, knowledge about climate change, beliefs about tackling, perceived threat, behavioural responses, personal actions, and demography. We found that the concern about air pollution and a feeling of threat to respondents’ life was mainly affected by the degree of climate concern. We conclude that the knowledge of local communities on climate change has increased, and risk perception has improved. Still, there is no clear relationship between the level of concern and climate-conscious behaviour. The findings provide ideas for promoting local climate management and awareness-raising in the European Union or other countries.
The appearance of online map services and frameworks (e.g., KML, QGIS) has increased the possibilities to easily, quickly and—in many cases—cost-effectively publish spatial data stored in databases. ...The aim of this study is to present the geovisualization of spatial databases of a Hungarian settlement on the web, using the open source webGIS system and Google application programming interfaces (APIs). The interactive point and interpolated distribution maps available online provide a detailed picture of the level of contamination, the spatial distribution of the ground water supply of the investigated settlement, and the changes which have occurred following the establishment of the sewage system. In the case of PO43− we determined that in the year before the sewage system was constructed, most of the area of the settlement could be considered contaminated, with the highest level of contamination measured in the central area of the settlement. Five years after the construction of the sewage system, the ratio of the contaminated areas had significantly decreased. In the case of NO3− we found a high level of contamination before the construction of the sewage system with a concentration increase in a North–West direction. After the establishment of the sewage system, the increase in concentration was the most intense in the central parts of the settlement, while the characteristic spatial distribution could no longer be observed. The geovisualization techniques developed are able to provide information about the different spatial data for users in a visual way, and also help to understand better the spatial information using a cognitive approach. The advantage of interactive web maps created with the technologies applied over traditional static maps is a new approach, which allows the user to manipulate the temporal and spatial data directly in the most appropriate way.
Septic tanks without proper construction and insulation entail a significant risk to the environment. In this study, the environmental impacts of a permeably designed septic tank on shallow ...groundwater contamination are investigated, and changes in water quality in the period after its elimination in 2014 are assessed. For the purpose of evaluating the pollution level of the site, 10 monitoring wells were installed around the septic tank in 2012 and long-term monitoring was carried out. Analytical measurements revealed a significant level of groundwater contamination in the operational period of the septic tank. Extremely high concentrations of NH4+ (>90 mg/L) were observed in the closest monitoring wells, and in most of the wells, concentrations exceeded the relevant contamination limit. δD and δ18O isotopic ratios of monitoring wells within 1 m from the septic tank indicate continuous recharge of sewage water originating from deeper aquifers. The groundwater dome resulting from the wastewater discharge exceeded 1.1 m, within a distance of 25 m. Statistical analyses also revealed significant changes in water quality depending on the monitoring well location from the septic tank. In the period after the septic tank elimination, considerable changes have been detected. Following the cessation of the wastewater discharge, the groundwater dome around the septic tank disappeared; therefore, differences in groundwater levels have decreased from more than 1 m to a few cm. Significant positive changes were detected in the water quality parameters investigated after the dismantling of the septic tank. Five years after the cessation of the pollutant supply, concentrations still exceeded the contamination limit in most of the monitoring wells, indicating slow decontamination processes with a permanently high level of pollution.
A country’s economic situation, its political establishment, and the prevailing environmental conditions have a significant impact on the institutional system required for efficient environmental ...protection measures. During our work, we reviewed the institutional changes and legislation regarding environmental protection which have occurred over the past 20 years as well as the role of changes in the government. In summary, it can be concluded that significant changes occurred during the past two decades. The names, organizational structures, operations, and scopes of ministries have undergone regular changes over the years. In Hungary, there has been no separate ministry of the environment since 2010, and this area is regulated only on the state secretary level. In contrast, in the V4 countries and the Carpathian Basin, environmental protection is regulated on the ministry level.
In this study, the word association method was applied in relation to municipalities in Eastern Hungary (Hajdú-Bihar county), where the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) already ...exists, and where the SECAP has not yet been introduced. In addition to the six municipalities examined, Debrecen, a county seat with the SECAP, was also included in the survey. The aim was to explore the conceptual networks related to climate change and the strength of the relationship between the stimulus word and the associated concepts. The associations representing a common meaning were categorised. The results show that the distribution of conceptual networks and that of categories related to climate change exhibit a similar picture in the group of municipalities with (3 villages) and without the SECAP (3 villages), although significant differences were found when the settlements were examined separately (7 municipalities). Studying the distribution of categories by demographic groups, it was found that educational attainment determines, to the greatest extent, the answers.
Because of the increased demand for information, the scientific community have published their results on the Internet over the last 20 years, adapting to society requirements. Due to the development ...of web-based spatial information soil systems, access to data on various themes and of varying quality has become substantially easier. The focus of our paper is to demonstrate a freely accessible and usable web-based soil database and soil information system (Soil Information and Soil Classifier System), which is suitable for geovisualization uploaded soil data and for determining reference soil groups (RSGs) in accordance with the World Reference Base of Soil Resources (WRB; RSG). In order to achieve this, we algorithmized the diagnostic soil classification process of the WRB, then we created decision trees to correspond input soil data to the WRB system. In order to facilitate geovisualization of the spatial data, the Keyhole Markup Language file format supported by Google API was applied.
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