37 percent water loss in 2019: ‘AKP fails in water management as well’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Minister of Forestry and Agriculture Bekir Pakdemirli has answered the Parliamentary question of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Niğde MP Ömer Fethi Gürer about the water loss in Turkey.

In his Parliamentary question dated May 27, Gürer asked, "What is the rate of seepage loss in Turkey in 2020 and 2021? Are there any efforts to prevent seepage loss? If yes, how has the state of seepage loss changed when the findings before and after these efforts are compared?"

Minister Pakdemirli has answered the Parliamentary question of CHP's Gürer and announced that based on a calculation of the data provided by the 28 metropolitan municipalities and 42 provincial municipalities in their annual reports on water losses, which are prepared as per the related legal regulations, the rate of water loss was 37 percent in Turkey in 2019.

He has said that there are efforts to ensure that the water losses of metropolitan and provincial municipalities will be reduced to a maximum of 30 percent by 2023 and to a maximum of 5 percent by 2028. As for the water losses of other municipalities, there are efforts to reduce their losses of water to a maximum of 35 percent by 2023, to a maximum of 30 percent by 2028 and to a maximum of 25 percent by the year 2033.

'There is a serious loss'

Commenting on this answer, CHP Niğde MP Gürer has underlined the importance of water in the world due to the climate crisis and said:

The gradual depletion of resources makes it necessary to use the available water properly. The water resources are not properly used in our country. 37 percent is a serious rate of water loss. It is seen that the Justice in Development Party (AKP), the ruling party for the past 20 years, has fallen short about this as well.

CHP's Gürer has asked, "As a target, the Minister wants the municipalities' water loss to decrease by 7 percent; how will they manage to do something, which cannot be done for 20 years, in three years?"

The MP has briefly added:

"The government has failed in water management as well. The flooding method is predominantly used in agricultural fields in our country. Modern irrigation has not been adopted to a sufficient extent. The Ministry has also been unable to provide farmers with the necessary support and training for these necessary works. Scientists say that if the process is not properly managed, our country will have serious water problems in 50 years." (DŞ/SD)