Coordinated water resources allocation in the Hungarian part of the Tisza River Basin

The Tisza–Körös Valley Integrated Water Management System (TIKEVIR) represents one of Hungary’s most complex hydraulic networks, designed to balance the spatial and temporal distribution of water resources across the Great Hungarian Plain. This study analyzes the coordinated operation of the system during the 2025 water scarcity period, focusing on the implementation of the Water Restriction Action Plan and the introduction of system-wide operational scheduling. Based on daily hydrological monitoring and the application of reduction factors (rt), water allocations were dynamically adjusted to match available discharges and user demands. Despite critical low-flow conditions comparable to the 2022 drought, adaptive managementenabled the retention of approximately 15 million m³ of surplus water in Lake Tisza and the transfer of more water to the Körös Valley. The results demonstrate that coordinated scheduling significantly improved the efficiency and equity of water resource distribution under constrained conditions. The applied methodology provides a replicable framework for enhancing drought resilience and sustainable water governance in large-scale lowland hydrosystems.