Hürriyet Daily News – POLLUTİON THREAT TO İSTANBUL WATER
Pollution threat
to istanbul water One of the key reservoirs providing drinking vvater to İstanbul may be seriously polluted, a nevvspaper report says. A member of the group of environmental engineers investigating the claims says a vvater-purifying plant could be the source of the problem vvhile others çite industrial and agricultural operations, and increased runoff, as possible culprits İSTANBUL Daily Nevvs vvith Milliyet istanbul residents are facing concerns about the quality, not just the quanhty, of the drinking vvater in the cit/s dams folloving a report of dark, foul-smelling liquids floving from a pipe into a key reservoir. Tine origin of the pipe has not yet been idenrified, reporter Tahsin Aksu vvrote in daily Milliyet on Thursday, noting that the body of a sea gull vvas found on the shores of the Alibeyköy reservoir near vvhere the liquids vvere being discharged, and that vvhite foam vvas observed on the vvater as vvell.
The reservoir is one of seven providing drinking vvater for the city of 15 million. Experts from the istanbul Chamber of Environmental Engineers, or lEEC, have formed an investigation team and are vvorking to identiry the causes of the reported vvater pollution in the Alibeyköy reservoir, 1EEC member and Yıldız Technical University Professor Beyza Üstün told the Hürriyet Daily Nevvs & Economic Revievv in a phone intervievvThursday.
“Should vve find out that there are toxic substances being discarded in the reservoir, vve vvill bring (ali relevant authorities] to court and ask for the necessary measures to be taken,” she said.
“VVe use this vvater to brush our teeth, vvash our fruits and take a shovver, thus its use affects people directly.” The amount of vvater in Istanbul’s dams is alvvays a source of concern for local residents, vvho face vvater cuts in the summer if levels drop too lovv, but the Milliyet report suggests the quality of the vvater may be as much of a potential problem as its quantity. “About 1 million people live around drinking-vvater reservoirs, and industrial facilities are even constructed in such areas,” Ahmet Atalık, the chairman of istanbul Chamber of Agricultural Engineers, told the Daily Nevvs on Thursday, adding that drinkingvater areas are not being properly protected by the relevant authorities, as mandated by lavv. He added that authorities must also properly monitör the use of agricultural chemicals used on soils in the regions vvhere reservoirs are situated.
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