Waste dumped near lake, stream in Van

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For about two years, garbage collected in the eastern city of Van is dumped near Lake Van and Botan Stream instead of a waste disposal facility, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.

The practice started after trustees appointed by the Interior Ministry took over the municipality from the elected mayor.

The Integrated Solid Waste Disposal Facility was completed in 2021 with the support of the European Union (EU). The project had started when the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-mayors were still on duty.

However, the trustee administration dumps garbage in areas nearer to the city center rather than the disposal facility, in order to reduce costs.

Ali Kalçık, head of the Van Association for Preservation, Research and Development of Historical Artifacts (Van Çev-Der), said it was the municipality's duty to collect and recycle garbage.

"In Kurdistan, some things are pretended to be. There is a solid waste disposal facility but waste is not collected from districts and neighborhoods," he said.

Responding to questions from MA, officials of the Çatak District Municipality, which is run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) denied that they dump waste near the stream.

However, a previous report by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) said 40 tons of waste were collected around Lake Van in 2021.

The most common cause of pollution in Lake Van is wastewater. About, 100,000 cubic meters of wastewater flows into the river, and only about 25 percent of it is sanitized. (TY/VK)