Turkiye's Water Security Policy: Energy, Agriculture, and Transboundary Issues.

• Author: Kibaroglu, Aysegul
• Position: ARTICLES

Introduction

One of the most pressing issues of the 21st century is the management and allocation of limited freshwater resources as they become more and more scarce globally. Water resources are essential for satisfying basic human needs, promoting social and economic development, and conserving ecosystems. Water crises occurring at various levels (local, national, global) are the result of a rapidly growing population, changing levels of economic development, poor water management, and allocation practices, unfair access to and inequitable distribution of already scarce surface and groundwater resources and the burgeoning impacts of climate change. Hence, for many countries, 'water security' has become a key policy concept in developing sustainable use policies and managing water resources.

Water security is defined as "the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability."(1) Achieving water security is directly linked to food and energy security, protecting and preserving ecosystems, and addressing key vulnerabilities and risks from climate change. Good water governance--including transboundary cooperation--is a critical feature of any effort to achieve water security. Yet the concept of water security remains abstract and broad. In an attempt to make the concept of water security relevant in practice, this paper delineates Turkiye's water security policy and practices in the energy and food sectors through institutional and cross-sectoral analysis. Specific attention is paid to Turkiye's transboundary water security policies.

Institutional Development for Water Security

The development of water resources was one of the key sectors institutionalized in modern Turkiye. Its role in driving economic growth and social development has been constantly emphasized at the political level.(2) Turkiyes water security policy comprises a set of strategic objectives, such as increasing agricultural production and ensuring food security meeting the growing water needs of urban and rural populations as well as industry phasing out dependence on imported energy sources, eliminating regional, economic and social imbalances within the country and raising the populations living standards.

Nearly a century ago, one of the most pressing undertakings of the young Republic was to improve public health. Thus, as early as 1926, the Ministry of Health formulated the Law on Waters, which led to significant investment in the drinking water supply and the draining of swamps.(3) Determining the quality standards for drinking and domestic water, monitoring these standards and preparing legislation in these areas, and controlling environmental protection and urban wastewater collection and treatment in accordance with public health continue to be among the major undertakings of the Ministry of Health.

In hydrological terms, Turkiyes territory features 25 major river basins that exhibit a large variation in average annual precipitation, evaporation, and surface run-off parameters. In total, the average annual run-off is approximately 186 billion cubic meters (bcm), of which 112 bcm could be collected for use at a reasonable cost. Surface water contributes 98 bcm and groundwater 14 bcm. In other words, Turkiye is not a water-rich country. Its population will reach 90 million by 2030, and the available water will drop from the current ~1.350 [m.sup.3] to ~1.240 [m.sup.3] per capita per year.(4)

Turkiyes water security policy framework delineates clearly identifiable parameters and is implemented by well-established institutions. A series of public, private, and non-governmental institutions has been established for securing water for agricultural and hydropower development, domestic and industrial uses, and the protection of the environment. First and foremost, among these institutions is the Directorate General of State Hydraulic Works (Devlet Su Isleri, DSI), which has been responsible for the development and management of Turkiyes water resources since 1954. The mission of the DSI, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), is to utilize Turkiye's water resources, safeguard against losses due to floods and droughts and develop land and water resources--a broad task that takes into account scientific and technical principles and the nations interests.

As the government agency primarily responsible for developing the water resources in the country the DSI is in charge of the planning, construction, and operation of water-related structures. A series of dams and hydroelectric power plants have been constructed and a large system of irrigation and drainage has been built throughout the country, along with comprehensive projects for energy generation, flood control, irrigation development, and drinking water provision. As a result of the economic liberalization policy adopted by the Turkish governments in the 1980s, some of the DSI's principal responsibilities have been transferred to irrigation associations and the private sector.(5)

Over the past decades, an institutional structure of sustainable development, water quality management, and environmental protection emerged in Turkiye, driven primarily by domestic social and economic changes. Added to these, the expansion of activity stemming from the terms of various international agreements signed at the bilateral and multilateral level, and efforts to meet the criteria set out by the EU for full membership, have altogether provided impetus to the ongoing process of ensuring the country's water security.

It is worth noting that the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, which is responsible for the protection and improvement of the environment, sets the principles and policies, develops criteria and standards, and prepares the relevant programs for environmental pollution prevention and protection. The ministry is also the coordinating authority in climate change negotiations as well as adaptation and mitigation policies.(6)

The General Directorate of Water Management (Su Yonetimi Genel Mudurlugu, SYGM), under the MAF, is responsible for developing policies for protecting and sustaining water resources as well as coordinating and preparing river basin management plans in partnership with relevant stakeholders. Determining policies for developing water resources, achieving coordination both at the national and international level, carrying out studies for drawing up legislation on the coordination of sectoral water allocation in accordance with river basin management plans, developing water quality standards and monitoring systems, developing strategies for flood control and flood management plans are among the main duties and responsibilities of the SYGM. Similarly, developing the National Water Database Information System, identifying and monitoring areas that are sensitive regarding water pollution and nitrate, and conducting studies on the boundary and transboundary waters in relation to international water conventions in coordination with other government institutions, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, fall within the scope of the main duties and responsibilities of the SYGM.(7)

The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources is responsible for the protection and development of geothermal sources and natural mineral waters and, in cooperation with the DSI, the development of hydropower projects.(8) Furthermore, the Ministry of Industry and Technology plays an important role in securing industrial water and wastewater management, so that the share of industrial water demand in total consumption amounts to 13 percent.(9)

Local governments, i.e., municipalities, carry out numerous roles within the institutional water security framework, such as the construction of urban water supply and sewerage systems and wastewater treatment plants.(10) The primary concern of local governments in non-metropolitan areas is supplying water, rather than the disposal and treatment of wastewater. The country's metropolitan areas have faced serious sewerage problems as a consequence of population increases from the 1980s onward, paving the way for the establishment of new organizational models that link the management of water and wastewater issues. In 1981, the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (Istanbul Su ve Kanalizasyon Idaresi; ISKI) was established as an autonomous entity for planning, designing, constructing, and operating water supply and sewerage services in the greater Istanbul metropolitan area. ISKI became a model for water and sewerage administration for other metropolitan municipalities, such as the capital city Ankara in 1987 and Turkiye's third-largest city, Izmir, in 1989. Currently, there are some 30 metropolitan municipalities with their own water and sewerage administrations.(11) The Ministry of the Interior has the power of tutelage over local governments as well as the authority to administratively audit them in the event of malpractice. Special Provincial Administrations affiliated with this ministry are responsible for water supply to non-metropolitan areas.

With the development of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi, GAP) in the 1980s, which encompasses the building of large-scale dams and extensive irrigation systems in the Tigris-Euphrates river basin, water has become a major issue within the realm of Turkish foreign policy. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs became the primary government body responsible for the formulation and implementation of Turkiye's transbound-ary water policy, GAP was systematically developed as a bureaucratic structure that determines principles, policies, and practices in regard...