Istanbul dams record highest water level in a year: Data

ISTANBUL

The recent rainfalls have been good news for Turkey’s most crowded metropolis Istanbul, as the province was troubled by drought fears earlier this year.

Water levels in the dams supplying the city have finally reached 90 percent thanks to precipitation.

Data from the Istanbul Water and Sewage Administration (İSKİ) showed that the rise in the water level reached 3 percent in one month.

It was at just 19.1 percent at the beginning of 2021 when the city’s water supplies were at alarmingly low levels but increased by more than three times in three months.

Istanbul relies on dams, ponds

According to the same data, the capacity rate in Elmalı Dam reached 89.46 percent.

With this level, the capacity rate at Elmalı Dam increased by 9 percent compared to last year.

The city relies on dams and large ponds for water for its more than 16 million inhabitants.

These dams have the overall capacity of storing up to 868.6 million cubic meters of water, and the city consumes 2.9 million cubic meters of water on average per day.