A Story of Progress: Hungary’s Famous Thermal Baths Are Saving the Country’s Famous Grasslands from Desertification | A Positive Story

A Story of Progress: Hungary’s Famous Thermal Baths Are Saving the Country’s Famous Grasslands from Desertification | A Positive Story

Why this story matters: Not all news is bad news. This story highlights the kind of progress that often goes unnoticed. Quick summary: This story highlights recent developments related to drought, showing how constructive action can lead to meaningful results. Wells in the Hortobágy National Park Puszta, with a stable – credit Self2 CC 2.0., via Wikimedia Drought is affecting the Great Hungarian Plain like never before, but a team of concerned citizens have hatched a clever plan to address it in the short term. It’s arguable what the Eastern European country is more famous for, its grasslands and horse heritage, or its thermal baths. The capital of Budapest is filled with spas, a traditional part of Hungarian culture that relies on thermally heated water from deep underground. The citizens have successfully used this one part of their culture to ameliorate a problem with the other, pumping outflow water from a spa onto low-lying grasslands in the Great Plain to help raise the water table, …