We, the undersigned, concerned citizens of Gyálarét, Szeged and Europe signing the present residential petition, would like to turn to you with the following respectful request with regard to the rehabilitation of the Holt-Tisza of Gyálarét backwater.

One of the most polluted backwater in Hungary is the Holt-Tisza of Gyálarét belonging to Szeged, so we fully agree with the rehabilitation and support it, however, during the rehabilitation about 160,000 m3 of contaminated sludge is expected to be removed from the bed of the backwater by the constructor.

According to the 2018 preliminary permit, this huge amount of contaminated sludge is intended to be treated for the purpose of biological disposal on the edge of Szeged-Gyálarét, in an area of 8.5 ha.

The biological disposal would take about 10 months according to preliminary plans. After the disposal, the sludge will be permanently placed in the material pit on the edge of Szeged-Gyálarét.

The current state of the Holt-Tisza of Gyálarét backwater (also called Black-water) was partly caused by decades of industrial pollution. Because of this, we are extremely worried about the disposal of this contaminated sludge at the site detailed above.

We are worried about that this could have a harmful effect on both the health of the population and the natural environment surrounding the designated area, because:

- The areas designated for disposal are extremely close to the inhabited area, there are a lot of residential buildings in the 300-500 m range of it in Szeged-Gyálarét and in Klebelsberg-telep.

- There are agricultural areas near the residential buildings mentioned before, in addition the affected areas are very close to the Tisza River. As a result of major rainfall, inland water, flood or a possible human failure groundwater and aboveground waters could be in danger.

- The Holt-Tisza backwater contains a lot of mosquitoes transmitting infectious diseases and we are worried about that the number of infected mosquitoes in the dredged sludge will increase enormously if the sludge will be treated on an open water surface, endangering the health of ourselves, our children and our animals

- As far as we know the planned activity will stink for months, so we would like to ask you to take into account the Air Protection Act, which prohibits the disturbance of the population by stink

- During the treatment severe air pollution can also be occurred because of the harmful effect of near-surface winds. This kind of pollution may not only be a problem to the immediate environment but also to other areas of Szeged.

Because of the reasons mentioned above, we are not only worried about our health and our environment, but also about the depreciation of our properties.

We are in favour of the rehabilitation of the Holt-Tisza of Gyálarét backwater, but please, support and help us with the points below:

• The contaminated sludge of the Holt-Tisza of Gyálarét should not be disposed and permanently place in areas such close to the inhabited area;

• Please, take into consideration in the selected procedures the potential indirect and direct impacts on groundwater and aboveground waters that are not contaminated yet, 

• Please, designate other areas that are far from the populated areas instead of the designated areas in the current plans.

In addition, we would like to request detailed official information on the results of the environmental impact assessment.

Please, help and support that Szeged-Gyálarét could remain a healthy environment with a good quality of life and a growing community in the future.

Hungary, Szeged-Gyálarét, June 2019

Yours sincerely, Residential Workgroup of Gyálarét