It seems that the restrictive measures authorities have taken in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus have had some rather surprising effects on Romania’s natural environment – and have shed light on illegal activities, too. The small, thermal lake of Püspökfürdő (Băile 1 Mai), which had been the last natural habitat for several animal and plant species and was thought to have dried up in 2017, has been filled up with thermal water once again.
Püspökfürdő, one of Transylvania’s oldest thermal bath resorts, is located in the Western Transylvanian county of Bihar (Bihor), in the vicinity of Nagyvárad (Oradea). The small, thermal lake stretches alongside the Pece (Peţa) creek in the nature reserve of Püspökfürdő. The oldest known description of the healing effects of Püspökfürdő’s waters dates back to the 18th century.
In earlier centuries, the lake was known as the Saint Ladislaus bath; the name Püspökfürdő (the Bishop’s Bath) comes from Bishop Lőrincz Schlauch of Nagyvárad, who reconstructed and modernized the establishment in the late 19th century. The bath’s waters are known to be beneficial in the treatment of several kinds of neurological diseases as well as various ailments of the stomach, liver and gall bladder.
Environmentalists already rang the alarm back in 2010 that the lake, which originally had a surface of at least one hectare, had shrunk to a size of a puddle and was frozen over during winter.
By 2017, the lake had completely disappeared, and people believed it had dried out irremediably. Sadly, this meant that the last specimens of several unique species living in the lake disappeared as well: the snail species called Melanopsis parreyssi, the fish Scardinius Racovitzai, and the thermal water lily named Nymphaea lotus forma thermalis. This water lily is a unique indigenous European plant; its closest relative can be found in the Nile Delta.
Environmentalists pointed out in 2017 that the valuable natural habitat was destroyed because hotels in Püspökfürdő, in the neighboring bath town of Félixfürdő (Băile Felix), and in Nagyvárad had carried out illegal drilling to fill their pools and heating systems with thermal water, despite the fact that the capacity of the natural water deposit is limited.
Biologist Márton Venczel, leader of the Natural Sciences department at the Körösvidéki Museum of Nagyvárad (Muzeul Ţării Crişurilor), emphasized in an interview with the daily Krónika that this unexpected event definitely proves that environmentalists were right: Much more thermal water was being drilled out in the area than should have been in order to not destroy the environment. The biologist is not optimistic about the future of the lake; he is of the opinion that it will exist only while touristic activities are halted. He also informed the daily that biologists have tried to save the abovementioned snail species, but it was not possible to breed it in a lab environment, so it has disappeared forever. The fish species is being kept in some places in aquariums, but the population is so reduced that it is also in danger of extinction.
According to Vencze, the repopulation of the thermal water lily could be managed most easily, as the species is being grown in several greenhouses. But the water lily can survive in the lake only if it regains its optimal water level, the biologist underlined.
Title image: The beautiful thermal water lilies could be repopulated in the lake of Püspökfürdő if excessive drilling would stop
