Istanbul’s water authority head calls for water-saving amid 'catastrophic drought'

Duvar English

Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (İSKİ) General Manager Şafak Başa on Aug. 11 called on Istanbulites to save water.

Speaking at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for Wastewater, Rainwater and Stream Rehabilitation Investments in Istanbul's Şile district, Başa said they are experiencing a “catastrophic drought,” ANKA News Agency reported.

Başa called on people to support İSKİ's water-saving campaign and said, “We are going through a very drought period. While making all these investments, we are experiencing a catastrophic drought in which temperature records were indeed broken.”

“At this point, our daily water consumption has reached 3.5 million cubic meters. We don't have many problems on the Anatolian side. Our dam filling rates are generally low on the European side. I expect all our citizens to contribute to the water-saving campaign of İSKİ. If only all citizens cut their consumption by 10 percent, I hope we will enter the rainy season without any problems,” he added.

The recent data of the İSKİ has shown that the fill rate of dams fell below 35 percent as of Aug. 11, the lowest rate measured for August since 2014.