Global warming to affect Konya first

In recent years, many wetlands have dried up, owing particularly to agricultural irrigation, and the underground water level has dropped by 20 meters in the last 20 years. The Konya Closed Basin holds nearly 40 percent of Turkey's underground water potential. Uncontrolled agricultural irrigation is still being perpetuated despite the plummeting underground water reserves and the risk of completely drying up run by some wetlands and lagoons.

Konya Metropolitan Mayor Tahir Akyürek stated the water used for irrigation in the Konya Plain was 20 times more than what was consumed within the boundaries of the city. The people in the region extract water from 60,000 wells, half of which are unregistered and illegal, Akyürek said, and added that billions of liters were wasted while irrigating the plain. The underground water level is rapidly dropping since twice as much of what is absorbed by the soil is extracted, the mayor warned, and emphasized that the underground water was now therefore running a higher risk of becoming salty and polluted. Saying they were planning to bring water in from outside the basin, Akyürek noted: "I don't think this will prove useful either so long as they use the water in the basin in an uncontrolled way. First and foremost, we should be thrifty. By taking some measures, we can reduce the amount of water used for agricultural irrigation to a third of the present amount wasted."

The annual amount of water usage per capita in Turkey is now 1,430 cubic meters, Akyürek stressed and added: "This amount used to be 1,700 cubic meters five years ago. The decrease has been continuous. If the present situation persists, we will have water shortages in the very near future. Research made at home and abroad says that the drought caused by global warming will hit Konya first. We should start taking action from Konya. If we start using water wisely, particularly in the Konya Plain, we will have saved a great amount."