* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
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Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli has announced that the fill rate of dams that provide water for İstanbulites is 27 percent and that of the dams that provide water to the capital city is 13 percent.
According to the Minister's written statement, in the event of no precipitation, the water in İstanbul's dams will suffice for nearly 3 months while the water in Ankara's dams will be enough for the city for 5 months.
Minister Pakdemirli has indicated that the fill rates of dams are slightly lower than last year, adding that less water is expected to be used from these dams considering that the irrigation season has ended, evaporation has decreased and the rainy season has started.
Noting that they do not foresee any water shortages in this process, Pakdemirli has also shared information about the fill rates of dams across the country that are used for purposes of energy, irrigation and drinking.
According to this data, the fill rate of Turkey's dams used for energy is 37 percent while the fill rate of those used for irrigation and drinking are 32 percent and 33.5 percent respectively. As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), the average fill rate of these dams stands at 35.6 percent.
The Minister has noted that there is 126.7 billion cubic meters of water in 374 facilities, adding that these figures are close to those of last year.
İstanbul
According to the statement of Minister Pakdemirli, İstanbul's daily need for drinking and service water is 3 million 200 thousand cubic meters.
"As of today, the fill rate of the dams that provide our İstanbul with water is 27 percent," the Minister has said, reiterating that if no precipitation falls in the city in the meantime, this amount will be enough for nearly 3 months. Referring to the expected rainfall and snowfall in winter, he has said that no water shortage is expected in the city.
Ankara
According to Pakdemirli, the fill rate of dams that provide the capital city of Ankara with water is 13 percent while this rate was 12.7 percent last year.
"Ankara uses 1.2 million cubic meters of water a day," he has noted, adding that the water available for the city will be enough to meet the demand for a period of 5 months even if no precipitation falls.
Second lowest level in İstanbul in 10 years
While the dams and ponds that provide İstanbul with water have a capacity of 868 million 683 thousand cubic meters of water, the current amount in these dams and ponds is 2 million 838 thousand cubic meters.
When the last 10 years are concerned, it was on October 4, 2014 when the fill rate of these water bodies was as low as 22.45 percent. The current level is the second lowest one in the last 10 years.
Speaking to bianet about İstanbul's water need, Chamber of Environmental Engineers Chair Meryem Kayan previously indicated that "the most basic problem faced by the city about the issue was that the basins were zoned for construction and that the city had to receive water from neighboring cities while it had to meet its needs from its own basins."
"For instance, with the Canal İstanbul project, some existing dams are attempted to be destroyed while the New City Reserve Area project is poised to open drainage basins to construction," she warned.
"Especially forest ecosystems are very important parts of the water cycle," she said and added, "In that sense, the destroyed forest ecosystems of İstanbul and the factors such as concretion are aggravating the city's water problem quite seriously." (TP/SD)
