Two well-loved healing springs have dried up at Herkulesfürdő, the Bánság resort founded by the Romans and whose heyday was during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and which was named after the god revered as the lord of thermal waters.
While the unique built heritage of the small town, which was called the most beautiful spa in Europe by Emperor Franz Joseph, is slowly crumbling under the burden of lawsuits that do not want to stop as a result of corrupt privatization, a contractor who carried out an illegal drilling operation is also accused of siphoning off resources.
The local authorities are trying to find out what could have caused the drying up of two well-liked healing springs in Herkulesfürdő, which attract a lot of tourists. According to the reports, the disappearance of the medicinal springs specially recommended for patients struggling with eye problems and stomach problems has significantly reduced the popularity of the tourist destination.
Was Herkulesfürdő "drilled" again?
Seeing the situation, the mayor's office of the Krassó-Szörény county resort town recently organized a public debate with the participation of representatives of the relevant authorities, professionals, local residents, tourists, and civil activists. County councilor Doru Coșei, according to the report of the Romanian public radio's Resicabánya editorial office, stated that the drying out may be related to certain illegal drilling.
“We've lost two vital resources, the Eye and the Stomach, and we don't know if we'll ever get them back. The authorities made all the documents available to us, we saw where the problem was. Thanks to certain permits, they continued drilling that started in 2016, which was completely illegal, and then illegally gave it a legal background"
- said Doru Coșei.
According to those, the matter will be thoroughly investigated, and in the meantime, urgent geotechnical analyzes will be carried out, and interventions will be made to save the resources. The success of which is questionable even under these circumstances.
According to the authorities' reasonable suspicion, the disappearance of the springs can be blamed on a boarding house owner who drilled deep holes to fill his hotel's swimming pool with water.
The National Mineral Resources Agency (ANRM) granted permission, but it was not revealed what kind of water was found: if it was mineral or thermal water, according to the law, its exploitation should have been stopped, the well should have been closed.
The guesthouse owner denies it
Meanwhile, the guesthouse owner claims that he acted legally, that he received all the necessary permits, and that they did not even drill down to the permitted depth of 120 meters, as water was already found at 90 meters.
According to the Ziare.com portal, Ilie Mihan stated that the resources dried up days or weeks before he started drilling. At the same time, he indicated that while his territory is located on the left bank of the Cserna, the mentioned springs originate on the right bank, from the opposite mountain, about 100 meters away as the crow flies. He recalled that decades ago the spa company drilled 350 meters deep between the two springs, which did not affect their water flow, and the mayor's office recently built a pool 20 meters away, the supply of which was not affected by the contractor's drilling. That's why Mihan doesn't understand why they think it might have something to do with the drying out, which he says was simply caused by the drought or deposits at the springs, which haven't been maintained for a long time.
A ruined spa town
The spa, which has been famous for thousands of years for its "miracle-working" healing springs and thermal waters, seems to be cursed: at least its namesake god, the Roman Hercules identified with the Greek héros, Herakles - in whom, among other things, the lord of healing hot springs was revered - must have turned away from it after seeing the current conditions.
After all, whatever caused the decline, the sad events only reinforce the dying image of the Bánság resort town discovered by the Romans and made world famous during the Monarchy.
It is well known that the unique built heritage of the spa resort, which was popular even during communism, began to rapidly decay after the real estate assets of the former state-owned spa company were privatized in the early 2000s through enormous corruption schemes, and the slow disclosure of dark deals resulted in endless litigation, which made it impossible to rescuing historic buildings: since they are the subject of lawsuits, public money cannot be spent on them, and the current owners do not want or dare to spend larger sums until the ownership relationships are clarified.
In 2022, the Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) brought charges against dozens of members of the criminal syndicate that privatized the Herkulesfürdő bath company, famous for its thermal waters, and profited illegally from the company's destruction.
There has not yet been a final court ruling in the case. According to DIICOT, the majority shareholding of the spa company, which at the time still had fifty properties, including the largest hotels, restaurants and beaches of the spa settlement, as well as a license to extract thermal water, was acquired by a company controlled by one of the defendants. The spa company under the control of the main suspect became insolvent in 2008, so he transferred the assets of the spa company to the property of the criminal syndicate he created, to prevent them from falling into the hands of creditors.
Featured Image: Sergiu Brega
