Water consumption in Istanbul hits record high due to heatwave

Due to the impact of the heatwave in Istanbul, daily water consumption reached a record high of 3 million 710 thousand cubic meters yesterday. Of the water supplied to the city, 600 thousand cubic meters were obtained from regulators, while the remaining 3 million 110 thousand cubic meters were drawn from dams.

Last month, on June 29, daily water consumption was recorded at 3 million 645 thousand 341 cubic meters. According to data from the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (İSKİ), the occupancy rate in the dams, which was 82.22 percent on April 15, has declined to 56.24 percent as of today.

Water levels in the dams were measured as 58.17 percent in Ömerli, 65.93 percent in Darlık, 72.29 percent in Elmalı, 59.61 percent in Terkos, 39.94 percent in Alibey, 53.95 percent in Büyükçekmece, 45.62 percent in Sazlıdere, 30.97 percent in Istrancalar, 49.79 percent in Kazandere, and 50.9 percent in Pabuçdere.

While the total capacity of the dams and ponds meeting Istanbul's water needs is 868 million 683 thousand cubic meters, the current amount of water has been determined as 488.12 million cubic meters. The amount of precipitation that fell on the dams this year was 324.23 kilograms per square meter. Additionally, 395.63 million cubic meters of water have been supplied from Melen and Yeşilçay so far this year.

OCCUPANCY RATES IN RECENT YEARS

According to İSKİ data, as of July 24, dam occupancy rates were recorded as 80.11 percent in 2015, 64.43 percent in 2016, 72.97 percent in 2017, 73.62 percent in 2018, 70.39 percent in 2019, 59.25 percent in 2020, 69.17 percent in 2021, 68.63 percent in 2022, 39.07 percent in 2023, 60.63 percent in 2024, and 56.24 percent in 2025.