In recent years, due to climate crisis and drought problems, unauthorized water wells have been opened in many regions; this situation has also been reflected in the Court of Accounts Reports. Although the “ownership of underground waters”, which are considered the “National Treasure” of Turkey and should be kept as reserves against extraordinary situations, is under the control of the state; illegal wells are opened in many places and resources continue to be consumed. The Court of Accounts Report states that the wells opened within the borders of municipalities and the amount of water drawn are not reported to the General Directorate of DSI. The report states that “it has been determined that there are water wells without a certificate of use” and that “the necessary permit procedures and licensing procedures for the effective use and monitoring of underground waters must be completed, and data regarding the opened water wells and beneficial consumption must be reported to the General Directorate of DSI”.
NO PENALTY APPLIED!
The report also found that as a result of the inspections, DSI Regional Directorates were unable to monitor and inspect the current status of underground waters and prevent unauthorized and excessive use, and that there was no information on how much water was drawn from wells that were granted drilling permits or for what purpose it was used. The Court of Accounts Report underlined that it was not determined that a coordinated monitoring system had not been established, and listed the following findings: “As a result of not determining the amount of useful need in the use of underground water and not being able to measure the amount actually used; it has been observed that usages exceeding the amount of useful need cannot be determined and administrative fines related to this cannot be applied.”
NOT ENOUGH MEASUREMENTS
In the audits of the Court of Accounts, it was found that in some public administrations, the digitization work of the drinking and utility water supply and distribution system plans had not been completed, and the drinking and utility water system It is also emphasized that water pressure at critical points is not continuously measured and monitored, and manual measurements are made on site when necessary.
The report draws attention to the fact that there is no flow meter device on the pipeline of some water tanks, there is no flow meter device on the pipeline at the exit of the pumping stations and the amount of water given to the system cannot be measured, there is no remote monitoring system for the water usage amounts of high-consumption subscribers, the Data Control and Monitoring System (SCADA) does not meet the adequacy criteria stipulated in the Communiqué and there are regions where there is no SCADA.
UNCOLLECTED
In the Court of Accounts report, the following statements are noteworthy in the section on “rainwater removal”: “The amounts related to the expenses incurred for the removal of rainwater must be collected from the relevant municipalities by the water and sewerage administrations. During the audits, it was determined that the expenses incurred for the removal of rainwater in some public administrations were not collected from the relevant municipalities.
THERE ARE 369 THOUSAND WELLS
On the other hand, the latest report published by the “Water Policies Association” states that there are more than 369 thousand wells in total throughout Turkey, 38 thousand of which are drinking and utility wells, 17 thousand industrial wells, and 313 thousand irrigation wells. The association’s report states that the groundwater reserve is at 23 billion cubic meters, and emphasizes that the reserves are rapidly decreasing and their quality is deteriorating.
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