Underground dams built against drought

ANKARA

Eighty-eight underground dams and artificial feeding plants have been built against drought and desertification by The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in water stressed Türkiye.

These facilities have been built within the framework of the “Underground Dams Action Plan” prepared by the ministry in order to contribute to the water reserve and increase the efficiency in water use.

Some 29,940 decares of agricultural land have been irrigated, and 2.76 million cubic meters of drinking water was provided.

It is aimed to increase the number of facilities to 150 by 2023 and to store approximately 50 million cubic meters of water.

If all this water is allocated to drinking water, it is predicted that it will provide drinking water to 750,000 people.

Likewise, if all of it is allocated for irrigation, it is said to provide irrigation of 80,000 decares of land.

Evaporation losses and expropriation costs of surface waters are minimized and conveyed to groundwater with underground dams.

With the protection of groundwater in terms of reserve and quality, clean drinking water and water for agricultural lands are obtained.

It is estimated that a net agricultural income increase of 60 million Turkish Liras can be achieved.

Geological and geotechnical investigations of 109 facilities, which are in the planning phase, continue.

Moreover, underground dams provide advantages such as preventing the dam body from collapsing and the dam caps from opening and causing floods during earthquakes and floods. The construction is also more practical, and the cost and the risk of pollution is smaller.