One of the main threats in the catchment of Zala river is the more frequently occurring extreme weather events at the catchment. Information on the impact of potential future climate changes to water resources and possible management scenarios to adapt to future extreme weather events will be shared with the General Directorate of Water Management, the farmer organizations (e.g., AGRYA, Agrion Top Kft.) and public bodies (e.g., Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, Zala County, Zala County Office of Agricultural and Rural Development Agency). At the catchment, it is also important to analyse how the transport of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides will change due to the extreme weather events. Recently, the amount of nitrate and pesticide in the groundwater at the catchment is close to the threshold value of groundwater pollution, and at a few plots, even exceeds it.
The catchment of river Zala in western Hungary belongs to the watershed of Lake Balaton. The catchment area of the Zala River is 2622 km2, it is situated in Zala Hills. Mean discharge of Zala is 5.6 m3 s−1. The climate is moderately warm, moderately humid, and the number of sunshine hours per year ranges between 1800 and 2000 h. The mean annual temperature of the region is about 10 ˚C. The average amount of rainfall is between 600 and 700 mm year−1.
