Sewage water, tourism damaging Lake Salda environment, locals warn

A local environmental association has urged the government to cancel a touristic facility project near the lake, pointing out the damage caused to its distinct ecosystem by people getting into the water.

İstanbul

Photo: AA/File

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Releasing a statement against the human-incuded pollution of Lake Salda, a crater lake with white sandy beaches in Burdur in Turkey's southwest, Conservation Association has stated that the sewage of a village near Lake Salda directly flows into lake through a stream.

Making a statement on behalf of the association, its chair Gazi Osman Şakar said that the sewage waters of Yeşilova district and Doğanbaba Village filter through the soil and the sewage water of Salda Village flow into the lake from the open stream even though the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization declares that it aims to protect Lake Salda with the "nation's garden" to be constructed near the lake.

Nature and life advocates stated, "Scientists say that the Sea of Marmara, which has two straits, is drowning due to pollution. Lake Salda is small, it drowns faster, please hear us," and listed the following demands for the "preservation of Lake Salda and its transfer to future generations";

• No one should enter Lake Salda.

• No one should step on the white sand.

• The construction around the lake should be stopped. The zoning reconciliation should be canceled.

• The nation's garden project should be canceled.

• The sewage waters of the settlements around the lake should not be poured into the lake.

• Let Lake Salda be a laboratory for scientists.

• If Lake Salda is to be used for touristic purposes, it should be used for visual and photographic tourism.

• Let Lake Salda be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

"Don't touch my Lake Salda," says the banner. (Photo: Lake Salda Conservation Association)

Şakar, Chair of the Lake Salda Conservation Association, shared information on the importance and history of Lake Salda in the statement by saying, "The pollution that enters Lake Salda, which is a closed basin, cannot come out again. It accumulates the incoming pollution.

"Accumulated pollution settles to the bottom of the lake and is toxic to living things; hydrogen sulfide, methane, and ammonia. These toxic gases that are formed kill and destroy the endemic creatures in the lake.

"This ecological change in the lake will cause the birds not to come, the death of living things outside the lake that benefit from its water, and the extinction of endemic plants that adapt to this special ecological structure."

Photo: AA/File

The impact of tourism

Stating that the advertisement of the Lake's similarity to Maldives and NASA likening the lake area to Mars increased the number of tourists, especially in 2017-2018, Şakar stated, "Most of those who came to see Lake Salda got into the water. Sweat, dirt, sunscreen, urine, and other impurities of those who entered the water remained in the lake.

"The public garden is being built so that more people can come to the lake. The more people come to the lake, the more polluted it will be," he said.

Noting that the case of the already completed nation's garden continues, Şakar said that the delayed decision of the court about the two ponds built around Lake Salda caused public resources to be wasted in vain.

"There was no accountability of the public resources destroyed here. The public resources spent here were given away to the contractors," he added.

The "Nation's Garden" project

Lake Salda Region, which is a first-degree protected area (SİT), was declared a Special Environmental Protection Area in March 2019 with a Presidential decree. It was decided to initiate a tender in July 2019 for the construction of a "nation's garden" in the region. The postponed tender was held in the autumn and given to Güngör Tarım Construction Industry and Trade Inc.

In September 2020, the 1/25000 scale plan that would open Salda for construction was approved by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. According to the plan, while the diluted rural settlement was preserved in a part of the Lake Salda Special Environmental Protection Area, hotels and hostels were directed to the area where Doğanbaba and Kayadibi are located, and construction began.

Lake Salda Conservation Association, on the other hand, stated in its statement at the end of the year that the project went beyond what was stated and wooden buildings were built in the White Islands.

Noting that their work gained momentum during the pandemic period, the Association stated that the promise "we will not hammer a single nail" in the promotion of the project was forgotten.

About Lake Salda

Lake Salda is located in the Yeşilova district of Burdur. The lake has a slightly salty karst structure. Lake Salda is a lake that was formed about 2 million years ago by the collection of waters from the environment and surface waters. Continuous streams such as Salda (Karakova) Stream, Doğanbaba Stream, Köpek Creek and seasonal streams such as Kırmızı, Kuruçay, and Kayadibi Stream pour into Lake Salda.

Salda, one of the clearest and cleanest lakes in Turkey, is the deepest lake in Turkey, the second deepest lake in the world (approximately 185 m), and has an area of approximately 45 km2.

There are 110 bird species, 62 of which are passerines, 38 are water birds, nine are diurnal and a single one is nocturnal, in the Lake Salda Lower Basin. 75 of these species are under protection under the Bern Convention.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had announced that Lake Salda has a similar mineral formation and geological structure to the Jezero Crater on Mars.

(TP/DCE/VK)