The 'Sapanca Lake Action Plan Meeting' held in Sakarya was held at Adapazarı Cultural Center. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı, Kocaeli Governor İlhami Aktaş, Sakarya Governor Rahmi Doğan, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tahir Büyükakın, Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Yusuf Alemdar, AK Party provincial and district administrators and Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry officials attended the program.
Speaking at the meeting, Minister Yumaklı stated that only 2.5 percent of the world has fresh water resources and said, "We can use only 1 percent of it. In other words, we do not have an infinite resource. Even though more than half of the world's population lives in cities and towns, the information we have obtained from publications and research conducted according to today's forecasts is that 2 billion 200 million people in the world have access to clean water. It was 1313 cubic meters, the amount of usable water per capita in Türkiye. However, we stated this, We said, 'If we fall below 1300 cubic meters, we are a country under water stress.' According to calculations made as of today, the amount of usable water per person in our country is 1297 cubic meters. Our country is now under water stress. There are many effects that changing climate conditions have brought to us. We have now begun to experience so many things in our lives, from irregularities in rainfall regimes, droughts, floods and floods. At the center of all of these is water. Our main issue now is not whether water will decrease. Where, how much and in what cleanliness and purity can we find water? This is becoming the real issue. We do not see water as a resource to be managed. I want to restate this. "Water is a strategic axis that directs all sectors for us," he said.
'WE PREPARED AN ACTION PLAN FOR OUR LAKE'
Stating that they put the issue of protecting the lake ecosystem and ensuring sustainable management on the agenda of the National Water Board, Yumaklı said, "As a board decision, we first prepared our action plans for Eğirdir, Beyşehir, Akşehir, Eber, Bafa, Burdur, İznik, Seyfe and Sapanca lakes. We strengthened our work with the contributions of municipalities, universities, non-governmental organizations and relevant institutions. Among these plans, we shared the Eğirdir and Burdur lake action plans with the public. Today, we shared the Sapanca Lake action plan, We have prepared it for our Sapanca Lake, which gives life to this region, and hopefully we have already started to partially implement it, but we will continue to reflect this to the public. Sapanca Lake is extremely important for both drinking and potable water and has the status of a protected area. However, if Sapanca Lake gets worse than its current situation, Kocaeli will become thirsty, I mean Sakarya will become thirsty. This very important industrial region will no longer be able to provide the necessary contribution to the Turkish economy. "It will happen," he said.
'INCREASE IN THE TEMPERATURE OF THE BASIN IS 4 PERCENT'
Minister Yumaklı pointed out that it is misleading that there is rain outside or that the level of Sapanca Lake has risen with the recent rains and said:
"I want to talk about predictions. In the coming period, the increase in the temperature of this region and this basin is predicted to be 4 percent. This is a terrible thing. And the total annual precipitation is predicted to decrease by 5 percent. These are good predictions. In other words, these data are of great importance for us to use the value we have. What happened when the use and the effect of climate change were combined? There was a decrease of approximately 72 million cubic meters of water in Sapanca Lake in 2025. This amount is 1 percent. 22 of them occurred from evaporation. Lake management in water food ecosystem connectivity, ensuring water security and efficiency, and the creation of a data-based artificial intelligence supported decision mechanism. Of course, I am saying these as titles, but there are 6 main actions and 12 measures based on these strategies. We made an investment plan and investment planning in 5 years, approximately 114 million per year for our basin. "We plan to provide 1,000 cubic meters of water. Therefore, our water security plan continues in the same way, drawing from natural resources is very important."
