ANKARA, 3 August 2007 — Turkey’s two major cities are grappling with water shortages after record-low snow and rainfalls in the winter and searing summer temperatures, officials said yesterday. Reservoirs are less than 5 percent full in the capital, Ankara, which has a 4 million population, according to the country’s water authority, and the municipality on Wednesday began imposing two-days on, two-days off of water cuts at homes.
A project to divert water from a nearby river was launched in March, but the water was not expected to reach the city until November. Authorities were considering delaying the start of the school year by a month — to mid-October — to avert possible spread of diseases at schools, Mayor Melih Gokcek said. Hospitals were being supplied with groundwater carried by tankers.
Water cuts could be increased to four days, Ankara water department director Ihsan Fincan said yesterday. The municipality was planning to send 16,000 of its employees on summer vacation to save on water in the city, he said. The reservoirs of Istanbul, a metropolis of more than 10 million, have sufficient water to last another three to four months, according to water authority estimates.
Istanbul has no plans to impose similar water cuts, Mayor Kadir Topbas said. The city was also working against time to divert water from nearby rivers. Sales of large, plastic water containers have surged in Ankara and elsewhere, with residents stockpiling on water, Posta newspaper reported. Sales of bottled drinking water were also up.
In Ankara, the containers, which sold for 6 Turkish lira ($4.50) before the water cuts, were now selling for 17 Turkish lira ($13). Bans on watering lawns and washing cars with hoses have been in place for months and there have been television ads and Friday sermons at mosques to encourage people to save on water. The drought has affected agriculture in parts of the country, preventing irrigation and drying up crops.
Meanwhile, five Kurdish rebels and three soldiers have been killed in fresh fighting in eastern Turkey, officials said yesterday.
The clashes broke out Wednesday afternoon in a mountainous area in the province of Tunceli after the soldiers came under fire from militants of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Tunceli governor’s office said. The security operation in the area was continuing, backed by air cover, Anatolia news agency reported.
In a separate incident, five soldiers were wounded in a mine explosion near the town of Hozat, also in Tunceli province, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Attacks by Kurdish rebels have killed about 80 soldiers this year. Turkey is considering a military operation against guerrilla bases in neighboring Iraq, but the United States opposes such an incursion, fearing it might drag the relatively calm northern part of Iraq into chaos.
