With the discovery that Turkey has adequate water resources that are simply not being effectively utilized, the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ) has developed a project for better usage of these resources.Japan and Canadian water management models
To this end, the DSİ has decided to implement projects that will facilitate easy transfer of water among different regions. In this respect, Japanese and Canadian models will be taken as basis. With the help of projects that will not require extensive funds and time, Turkey’s water resources will be integrated. Regulatory depots will be built along large water transmission channels and projects for transferring water between water basins will be implemented.
According to the estimates of the DSİ, Turkey’s underground water resources will be enriched with the water transferred from the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions to central Anatolia. The method used by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when he was serving as İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor in order to solve the water problem of İstanbul will be employed by the DSİ in its quest for a solution to Turkey’s drought problem. Erdoğan had ensured coordination among the dams which provided potable water to İstanbul.
The excess water which causes disasters in the Black Sea region will be transferred to inner regions. In the Black Sea region, dams will be built mostly on Çoruh River and they will be used to transfer water to central and eastern Anatolia. The water potential of Göksü, Manavgat, Dalaman, Sakarya and Karasu rivers, which do not fluctuate much between summer and winter, will be transferred to the regions having drought problems. First, the Blue Tunnel and the project for transferring the Göksü River to the Konya plain, which has been in progress for 20 years, will be completed in the next five. There is no need to ensure integration among dams in southeastern Anatolia because the dams on Euphrates and Tigris rivers are extensions of each other.
The water potential of the western Black Sea region is planned to be used in inner regions and in particular, in İstanbul. There are also studies for evaluating various rivers and streams in Bolu, Zonguldak, Bartın and Kastamonu. Gerede will provide a temporary solution to Ankara’s water problem. The water potential of the Aras and Murat rivers in eastern Anatolia will be integrated with the dams in southeastern Anatolia.
The DSİ has conducted studies in order to find out what must be done in order to fend off any water scarcity problem for the next 30 years and found that Turkey has to build 730 dams to this end. However, Turkey will need $128 million for 730 dams.
Based on the demographic statistics provided by the Turkish Statistics Institute (Turkstat), the study assumes that Turkey’s population will be 100 million by 2030. Currently, per capita usable water is 1,642 cubic meters/ year. The per capita usable water amount will decrease to 1,000 cubic meters/year by 2030. Considering the existing growth rate, the change in water consumption habits and other factors, certain pressures on water resources can be expected. Yet, these estimates apply if we manage to preserve current resources in their states for the coming 25 years. Therefore, Turkey has to know well and use rationally its resources in order to leave clean and sufficient water to future generations.
According the DSİ’s study, Turkey annually receives 501 billion cubic meters of water from precipitation. As 274 billion cubic meters of water evaporate, 41 billion cubic meters of water are fed to ground water resources. Of the entire ground water capacity, 14 billion cubic meters gush out of the ground as springs while 153 billion cubic meters are fed through rivers to seas or closed basins. With 7 billion cubic meters of water coming from neighboring countries, the gross water capacity of Turkey amounts to 234 billion cubic meters. Thus, Turkey’s overall surface water potential reaches to 193 billion cubic meters. In the final analysis, Turkey has a total usable water potential of 112 billion cubic meters. Yet, Turkey currently can make use of only 36 percent of it.
The DSİ is seeking methods to utilize the remaining 64 percent. Since Turkey has steep and broken terrain, most of its water capacity is fed to seas. With a surface area of 779.5 million hectares, Turkey has arable land of only 28 million hectares, of which only 25.85 million hectares can be irrigated. Still, the area of land that is irrigated using the state-of-the-art methods is 8.5 million hectares. Turkey’s potable water capacity is calculated to be 2,026 billion cubic meters while the water for industrial use is found out to be 3,900 cubic meters.
Turkey generates 35.310 MW of electrical power in its 546 hydroelectric power stations, but uses only 35 percent of its hydroelectric power potential. Sixty percent of Turkey’s electrical power is generated from natural gas power stations. Water resources of Anatolia are rapidly contaminated due to rapid and irregular urbanization, industrialization, regional wars and agricultural chemicals.
Turkey has to make an investment of $128 billion in order to make use of its water potential of 112 billion cubic meters. It seems unlikely that Turkey will find these funds in the short or medium term. For this reason, Turkey has decided to implement an integrated water management model.
Benzer Haberler 
National
