Water released from power plant into Meriç River due to drought

The drought that has been affecting the region for a long time has begun to threaten agricultural production. Authorities, taking action for farmers experiencing irrigation shortages, decided to release water from the Meriç River Power Plant into the riverbed.

With the water release from the plant, it is planned to gradually irrigate the fields of all producers, primarily rice farmers.

The intervention aims to prevent potential crop losses caused by the drought.

"THE GOAL IS TO PREVENT CROP LOSS"

Edirne Governor Yunus Sezer inspected the water release at the power plant on-site. In his statement, Governor Sezer said, "As part of our efforts to combat drought, we are trying to ensure that our producers get through this season without experiencing crop loss. Necessary measures have been taken, especially to meet the irrigation needs of our rice farmers."

"ENERGY COULD NOT BE PRODUCED"

Hüseyin Erkin, former Deputy Regional Director of the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) and a senior mechanical engineer, pointed out a lack of planning in the implementation, stating, "Approximately 2 million cubic meters of water accumulated in the rubber dam on the Meriç were released into the riverbed. However, the 14 Archimedes screw turbines in this mini-plant, each with a capacity of 150 kW, should have been activated gradually according to the river flow. Each of the turbines operates at a flow rate of 4-5 cubic meters/second. If the water had been released in a controlled manner, both energy would have been produced and losses in the riverbed would have been reduced. With this method, more water could have reached the İpsala region."

Stating that a large portion of the released water was lost in the riverbed, Erkin noted that only a small amount of water was able to reach the rice fields in İpsala.