Manavgat River Water: A Limited Alternative Water Resource for Domestic Use in the Middle East

Abstract

The water potential of the Mediterranean part of Turkey including the Aegean coastal zone is at a level of mean annual about 8.2 × 10⁹ m³. The size of irrigable land, in this part of the country is about 1.8 × 10⁶ ha, and there is very high tourism potential in the region. The main water courses along the Mediterrenean coast of Turkey, from east to west, include the Ceyhan, Seyhan, Goksu, Koprucay, Manavgat, Aksu, and Esencay rivers. All together they have 35 × 10⁹ m³ annual outflow.

Starting from 1992, the Turkish State Hydraulics Work (DSI) was authorized to develop a water supply project for domestic use, from the Manavgat river which has an average 147 m³/sec runoff rate. The project consists of a river intake structure of 5.8 m³/sec of water from the Manavgat river, and a pumping station having 7 booster pumps each with 967 l/sec capacity, and a set of two supply pipes of 1200 mm diameter, of 1057 m length, reaching to a water purification plant situated at 67 m above msl (medium sea level). The plant does both chemical and physical water treatment to meet WHO standards. The total storage capacity of the project is 500 000 m³, half of it is treated-purified- and the second half as raw water. The annual source of fresh water available at present, of 180 × 10⁶ m³ water can also be transported as raw water. There are two pipes of 1600 mm diameter, and about 11 km length, to transport water to a control station located along the coast. From there on, the water is transferred 2 SPM (Single Point Mooring) - one for purified and the other for raw water-filling floats. Till now, water has been transported to northern Cyprus. On 4 March 2004 an agreement for water purchase was signed in Tel Aviv (see chapters by Gruen and Rende above). Pursuant to this agreement, Israel may purchase 50 × 10⁶ m³/year water from Turkey for 20 years. It is hoped that the neighbouring Middle Eastern states will benefit from this limited alternative water source for their domestic needs.