‘Cesspool waste of 22 mountain villages mixes in Bursa's drinking water’

* Photos: DOĞADER

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The cesspool* waste of 22 mountain villages mixes in the water of Nilüfer and Doğancı dams that meet the drinking water need of Bursa.

Speaking to bianet, Sedat Güler, the Secretary General of the Bursa Nature and Environmental Protection Association (DOĞADER), says that the cesspool problem of Bursa's dams started 4 years ago.

However, the then Bursa Metropolitan Mayor Recep Altepe went to the area and said, "We are doing the necessary work, we are setting up treatment facilities. Sewage will not flow to our dams any more."

Receiving a new tip after four years, the DOĞADER association visited the area. "What I saw was an utter disaster," says Güler.

Some villages have no storage or treatment

According to what Güler tells bianet, while tanks were set up in some villages, treatment facilities were established in others. There are still some villages where the waste does not undergo any treatment.

In those villages where tanks were built for the waste, the waste is not removed, it has spilled over and formed a small brook as a result. The water of this small brook mixes in the main brook, which then mixes in the water flowing to Nilüfer or Doğancı dams, providing Bursa with water.

Treatment facilities have been established in some villages, but these facilities are not working, according to what Güler says. He notes that "the water coming out of the treatment is, again, sewage." This water also first mixes in the brooks, then flows towards the dams.

On the other side, some villages do not even have a treatment facility or tank. "They have hidden the sewage pipes deep in the brooks. The sewage flows directly into the dam," says DOĞADER's Güler.

'Half the water in basin is sewage'

Referring to the current drought, Güler underlines that the remaining water bodies in Bursa are contaminated by this waste:

"Water as thin as 1 meter flows to the Nilüfer Dam basin, which is nearly as broad as 600 meters. In other words, the water coming to the dam is already meagre and, I bet, nearly half the water flowing here is cesspool waste. The Bursa Water and Sewerage Administration (BUSKİ) is also frequently chlorinating the water to solve this matter, but it is not a solution. It is something horrible for public health.

"A single biological treatment must be done and this facility must be active all the time. If this is ensured, then, the sewage and waste of all these villages flow to this treatment facility and, then, can mix with the water in the dam basin after being cleaned. For this reason, the institutions governing Bursa must immediately take our brooks flowing to the dam under preservation for the health of the people of Bursa." (TP/SD)

* Cesspool: An underground container for the temporary storage of liquid waste and sewage. (Oxford Dictionary)