Rainwater Harvest Started in Aşık Veysel Recreation Area

Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerContinuing its work with the vision of "Another Agriculture is Possible", which is based on the fight against drought and poverty, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has implemented the first example of the Rainwater Harvest Project. With the “Rainwater Harvest”, which started in the 245-decare Aşık Veysel Recreation Area, 80 thousand cubic meters of water per month is saved.

With the amendment made in the zoning regulation in order to use declining water resources more efficiently and to combat drought, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, which obliges rainwater harvesting in newly constructed buildings over a thousand square meters and green roofs in buildings over 60 thousand square meters, will implement rainforest in park, recreation and living space projects. He also attaches great importance to his gardens. Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerThe Metropolitan Municipality, which took a series of measures against the climate crisis and drought within the framework of the vision of creating resilient cities, implemented the first example of the “Rainwater Harvest” project. With the system created to irrigate the green areas in the Aşık Veysel Recreation Area, which is 245 decares in size, a great amount of water has been saved. Reservoirs were created to collect the water coming from the Pool İzmir, Ice Skating Rink and Bornova Stream in the area. In this way, 80 thousand cubic meters of water per month is saved. Irrigation of the area is done with the water collected in the tanks.

Gürbüz: “We will save a lot of water”

İbrahim Gürbüz, Head of Water Transmission and Distribution Department of the General Directorate of İZSU, stated that the global warming and climate crisis affecting the world caused the water resources to become increasingly scarce and required the correct use of water resources. Tunç SoyerIn line with the vision of İZSU, the General Directorate of İZSU also carries out serious studies in this field. The limited drinking water resources and the very serious costs for the delivery of drinking water resources to our subscribers have made it necessary to irrigate very large green areas such as the Aşık Veysel Recreation Area with alternative irrigation methods. This area uses around 80 thousand cubic meters of irrigation water per month. It's a serious rate. Our work at the Aşık Veysel Recreation Area is a first in this sense.”

Rainwater collects in the tank

Stating that they collect the roof water of the Pool İzmir, the drain and roof water of the ice skating hall, the utility water in the area, as well as the rain water from the stream, Gürbüz said: “We irrigate the green areas with this water we collect. For this, we laid a network pipe of 200 meters in length. 80 cubic meters of water per month corresponds to 2 cubic meters of water per day. This is a ratio that can meet the drinking water supply of many settlements. There are many beautiful green areas in İzmir, when we start to use rainwater harvesting for irrigation and when we create alternative irrigation sources, we will make significant savings in our drinking water resources. It will contribute to both our cost and irrigation cost.”