Water economy and the water disaster

While our country is surrounded by seas on three sides and was once a country without water resource issues, the unconscious use of water resources and their susceptibility to political interests are leaving our country facing a water disaster.

It is a fact that many factors, such as industrialization in a macro sense, socioeconomic changes, increasing drought, population growth, and urbanization, affect water usage and capacity. Water scarcity should be seen as one of the most important problems that will affect human life in the very near future. Due to rapid urbanization and migration in our country, it is expected that water capacity in cities will decrease by two-thirds. Especially due to the populist approach of municipalities, water consumption is viewed only in terms of price.

The establishment of a ministry of water or a supreme water board is urgently needed. Although many public institutions are authorized regarding water in our country, the most important of these are the DSI (State Hydraulic Works) and municipalities. There are 861 dams in operation in our country; 203 of these are large-scale dams, and 658 are ponds.

The total occupancy rate of the dams is 70%, while it is 30% in Central Anatolia. For dams to fill up, snow and rain must fall in the form of continuous precipitation. However, although our underground water resources are sufficient, we are facing a situation where dams remain waterless due to the unconscious and unregistered drilling of wells, and on the other hand, the use of drinking water for agriculture. Today, there are over 1,000 illegal wells in just one province in Central Anatolia.

In fact, some of the dams built by the DSI have turned into a public loss. For political reasons, second and third dams and ponds are being built on top of the same ones, which causes both the ponds and dams to fail to collect water and reach sufficient occupancy. Today, in many places, irrigated agriculture cannot be practiced because dams cannot collect enough water.

Using water is a culture and a philosophy of life. Geographically, underground water resources consist of two layers. The first layer is physical water formed by rain and snow, and the second is the water located even deeper, which our country does not or cannot bring to the surface and which flows into the sea. Instead of using the water flowing into the sea, our country is irrigating agricultural lands with water from the first layer that should be used as drinking water. We must abandon this approach and use the water that mixes with the sea for agricultural lands. Many local measures can be taken here. Pools for rainwater in cities and water tanks for roof water can be created. Parks and gardens can be watered with this water. A rain tax could be levied on citizens who do not build tanks and reservoirs for rainwater.

Turkey actually does not have a water problem. There is a political structure that has turned this problem into rent.

If the DSI performed its measurements correctly and if 5- and 10-year water inflow projections and feasibility studies were conducted properly, it would solve a significant part of the water problem. They are content with just building dams. However, hundreds and thousands of illegal wells continue to be opened in the same region, and the institutions and organizations that build the dams remain spectators to illegal and unregistered water use by failing to conduct inspections.

Turkey does not have a water policy. There is a ministry of climate change regarding climate change.

Apart from that, we do not have a 50-year or 100-year water vision policy. Do you know of any studies or awareness-raising efforts conducted by public institutions, organizations, and municipalities regarding household water consumption in terms of water policy?

Have you heard or read about any municipality announcing an urban water management policy for the municipal elections? Just saying "I will provide water at this price" is a bribery bargain regarding human life and the future. If we cannot correctly grasp and analyze the importance of the water economy, a water disaster will be added to the earthquake disasters that have been going on for years. Then, water will cease to be life.