Expert suggests transferring water to save lake from drying up

Tahir Nalbantçılar, president of the Konya Chamber of Geology Engineers, said even if precipitation levels increase, it won't be enough to save the lake. Nalbantçılar has suggested that a project called "blue tunnel," which will carry water from the Göksu River in the southern Çukurova region to the plains of Konya for irrigation purposes, could be the answer to saving Tuz Lake.

Bids for the construction of the project were taken last year and the project is scheduled for completion in approximately two years. Though originally planned for agricultural irrigation of the plains of Konya, Nalbantçılar said the project could also transfer water to Tuz Lake and thereby keep it from drying up. Thousands of pairs of flamingos migrate to Tuz Lake, one of the world's biggest salt lakes, with the arrival of spring in order to reproduce, but experts say 30 previously endemic bird species have become extinct in the region.

Following virtually rainless winters for five consecutive years and the continuing lack of a long-term water management policy in Turkey, Tuz Lake has come to the verge of completely disappearing. Nalbantçılar said more than 50 percent of the lake has dried and the remainder is only shallow water.

Tuz Lake is the second largest lake in Turkey, after Lake Van. Despite its huge area (580 square miles or 1,500 square kilometers), for most of the year the lake has very low water levels, especially during the dry summer months when water evaporates in large quantities, leaving a crust of salt on the surface of up to 30 centimeters thick. Businesses extract the salt to refine it and sell it on the domestic market.

An analysis of satellite photographs and maps has revealed that Tuz Lake has diminished by 85 percent in the last 90 years.

Aksaray University Geodesy and Photogrammetry Department Assistant Professor Semih Ekercin analyzed the shoreline changes of Tuz Lake in the last century and determined that the surface dropped to an elevation of 926 kilometers by 1887 and 326 kilometers by 2005.

The reasons for the shrinkage of the lake include the construction of dams on rivers and streams that feed the lake, illegal wells built near the lake and changes in climate.

Turkey has been experiencing a prolonged dry period, with rainfall declining over the last 18 years, with central Anatolia hardest hit by the drought.