With the infrastructure investments of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, 28 dams of water were saved in 3 years in Bursa. BUSKİ, which was able to deliver only 28 percent of the dam water to its subscribers 35 years ago, now offers 80 percent of the dam water to Bursa residents thanks to its strong infrastructure. If such an effective fight against lost and illegal use was not made, 2 more dams would be needed in addition to the existing 3 dams.
The Metropolitan Municipality, which did not leave the people of Bursa without water even in 2019, when the drought peaked in Bursa, breathed a sigh of relief with the April rains. The water level reached 60 percent in Doğancı, where the water bottomed out until two months ago, and 32 in Nilüfer Dam. The formula for BUSKİ not to leave the people of Bursa without water is the continuous improvement of drinking water lines. A total of 1989 thousand 2022 kilometers of drinking water lines were manufactured by BUSKİ between 12 and 234. In other words, when the drinking water pipes manufactured in the last 33 years are added end to end, they even exceed 4 times the distance between Bursa and Paris.
Big savings
BUSKI, which still delivers healthy drinking water to nearly 1 million 500 thousand subscribers, was able to deliver only 1995 percent of the dam water to the citizens in 35. 65 percent of the water coming out of the dam was recorded as lost-leakage due to the inadequacy of drinking water lines. With the infrastructure investments made in the last 28 years, the loss rate in drinking water in the central districts has decreased to the level of 20 percent and BUSKİ has become the first in Turkey in the prevention of lost and illegal use. If such an effective fight against lost and illegal use was not made, 2 more dams would be needed in addition to the existing 3 dams. In other words, with the renewed infrastructure, 28 dams of water were saved in 3 years.
No complacency
Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş reminded that in the meteorological drought map of January 2023, prepared according to the Standard Precipitation Index Method and Percent of Normal Method of the General Directorate of Meteorology, Bursa was also shown under the danger of extraordinary drought. Stating that the Nilüfer Dam bottomed out in February and the level at the Doğancı Dam dropped to 24 percent, Mayor Aktaş said, “Thank God the April rains came to our rescue. The rains continue and it looks like it will continue for a while. Doğancı's level reached 60 percent. We expect the level to rise even more as the snow waters melt. We hope to pass this article without any problems. However, this picture should not lead to complacency. Each individual should do their part in terms of not wasting and using economically.