In order to get to know the knowledge of the population about stormwater management and its use in the stormwater strategy, the Municipality of Budapest has prepared a questionnaire to assess the knowledge and experience on the topic. A total of 172 people completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire is not representative.

The first question asked about the type of stormwater management tools the person was familiar with. The vast majority of respondents are familiar with rainwater harvesting tanks and cisterns, and a large proportion are also familiar with reservoirs. Rainwater harvesting basins, storm drains and permeable pavements as rainwater management devices are known by 64-68% of respondents, and rain gardens and drainage ditches by 46-47%. A small number of them also mentioned other measures such as green roofs, garden ponds, restoration of natural habitats, a tiered garden with humus soil layer, or avoiding paving. Overall, it is likely that the public is aware of rainwater harvesting tanks, probably thanks to the public rainwater harvesting tank tenders, but awareness of rain gardens and leaching ditches needs to be increased.

The second question revealed that almost half of the respondents (48.5%) do not know the difference between unbundled and combined sewer systems. When asked to what extent the above factors are responsible for the increasing number of flooding events, the answers were that the main cause is the sudden and heavy rainfall caused by climate change, but the small proportion of green areas and the large area of impermeable pavements also play a decisive role. This was followed by a lack of capacity in the sewerage system for stormwater drainage, and finally a lack of network cleanliness.

This was followed by questions about their own experiences. 36% of the respondents had experienced flooding (rainwater from the street flowing into the basement), 13% had experienced it once, 16% had experienced it 2-5 times and 7% had experienced it more than 5 times. Almost half of the respondents (46%) have experienced overhead soaking, 18.6% once, 16.9% 2-5 times and 10.5% more than 5 times.

Half of the respondents (51.7%) water their garden with drinking water. This points to the need for further support for rainwater harvesting systems. The vast majority of respondents (97.7%) would like to collect rainwater. 27.5% of them are currently collecting, 14.6% would collect if they had all the support and means to do so, 7.6% would collect even at their own expense, but 48% of respondents say they have no means or direct influence to do so, as they live in a rented or shared house. On this basis, it may also be appropriate to encourage the collection of rainwater from condominiums. Respondents living in a condominium largely agreed with the statement that the condominium could be used for rainwater harvesting or that there is a possibility to use rainwater (e.g. irrigation). However, there was less agreement that the condominium residents would be open to installing such a system.

Respondents living in Budapest gave mixed answers to the question of who they would contact if they had a problem with stormwater. 37.1% of them would contact the Metropolitan Sewerage Works, 30.6% the District Municipality, 21.8% the Metropolitan Disaster Management Directorate and a smaller proportion (5.9%) the Metropolitan Municipality. Other options were also mentioned by respondents, such as the fire brigade, the common representative or the jarokelo.hu website.