Lake Burdur faces danger of drought as water ebbs

BURDUR – Demirören News Agency

A pier at Turkey’s seventh largest lake, located in the Mediterranean province of Burdur, has appeared to be standing on dry land after water ebbed significantly.

The water level of Lake Burdur has decreased by 17 meters in 50 years and the water volume has narrowed by 40 percent, officials said.

According to them, the water capacity, which was around 7.5 billion tons 50 years ago, is now around 3 billion.

People visiting the lake are witnessing the pier at the lake to be standing on rocks and sand, instead of water, as the lake began to shrink.

Environmentalists have been raising the alarm and urging officials to take action for years now. Six years ago, an organization called “Lisinia Nature” had poured water from a truckload of plastic bottles to shed light on the drought in the lake.

“Due to a lack of rainfall, the lake is losing. As time passes, the lake loses water and gets dirtier,” said Öztürk Sarıca, founder of Lisinia Nature.

“We have developed projects like dry agriculture or sheep and goat breeding rather than cattle-raising,” noted Sarıca. “It is not only an issue of Lake Burdur. Water reserves for the next generations are in danger.”

He stressed the lake would be wiped off the map if immediate action is not taken.

Lake Burdur, which is perched on an area of 250 kilometers square, is among the deepest lakes of the country with a maximum depth of 110 meters. It has great ornithological importance harboring numerous wintering bird species. The formation of the lake began 5 million years ago as a tectonic depression.