Digital Transformation and Ecological Sensitivity are Essential in Water Management

We must now move from understanding the importance of water to managing the risks ahead

As water managers, water users and society, we have to move from understanding the importance of water to preventing emerging threats. In order to move to this stage, extraordinary meteorological events and climate change, the consequences of which we have been experiencing for a long time, have been added to many reasons such as population growth, pollution, migration from rural to urban areas.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established at the UN in 1988. It has been working for 33 years. It has published 6 Assessment Reports. In each report, it drew attention to the fact that the situation has become more risky than the previous one. In the latest report, it is stated that greenhouse gas emissions are increasing, global regional temperatures are rising very rapidly, and it is no longer possible to meet the target of 1.50C increase in average temperature compared to the pre-industrial period. It is also stated that precipitation regimes and patterns are changing, dry periods will become more frequent, and extraordinary meteorological events will increase. The predictions that heavy precipitation will become more frequent are emphasized more clearly.

Sustainable Water Management

Sustainable Water Management is carried out in an integrated, participatory and transparent manner, taking into account the balance between economic, ecological and sociological objectives. However, our understanding of water and wastewater management in both central institutions and local governments has often had difficulty in achieving the ecology-economy balance and has compromised ecology. Various reasons for the necessity to make these compromises can be listed. Some of them may even be understandable. However, it is unacceptable to continue with the same management approach while seeing this destruction of nature and the bill that the deteriorating balance puts in front of us.

Sufficient and continuous access to clean water and living in a healthy environment is a fundamental right of life. However, it is not enough to defend this. It is necessary to be able to implement it, and the realization of this in practice requires a participatory, socialist-realist policy. On the contrary, populist policies are implemented for economic and political reasons, and civil society organizations, which are the voice of sustainable natural life, are often ignored.

A Change of Mindset Required

Today, we need a change in thinking as users and managers to use and manage our water resources by taking into account our social and national interests. We need to realize this change by prioritizing our national and social interests in all innovative developments, and we need to move from a water supply-only approach to an integrated water management approach.

To summarize; we need to move from populist water supply policies to socialist, realistic ecosystem-based water management policies. We should not continue the mistake of doing the same things and expecting different results. The national, economic, social and societal cost of this has started to be heavy. Wastewater management is an indispensable part of water management. Like all areas of water management, we need a paradigm shift in wastewater management. Here, instead of partially treating wastewater and discharging it, we need to fully treat and recycle this water. We should start using concepts such as "treated online water" instead of concepts such as dirty water and waste water. We should do this not only to produce additional water resources to the limited water resources, but also not to disturb the ecological balance within the scope of water quality management. In our country, we should increase our efforts to use the reclaimed water either directly in industry or agriculture or by storing it in groundwater or surface water reservoirs and using it in other suitable areas.

There are areas where we use treated wastewater, albeit at a small rate in our total water use. However, we need to increase this use in a planned and careful manner. This is not only a matter of technical and economic possibilities, but also of creating a culture of ecology-based thinking that starts with the understanding of protecting water quality.

Our Groundwater is Very Valuable

Our groundwater is our most strategic and valuable water resources. Everyone agrees, but we cannot make progress in terms of protection and efficient use. As the Water Policy Association, we are constantly trying to keep this issue on the agenda with the reports we write. 85% of our groundwater is allocated. However, we cannot maintain the balance of use and supply of groundwater basins. We only monitor and announce that the level is decreasing. The main reasons for this can be listed as increasing unlicensed wells, uncontrolled excessive withdrawals and lack of supervision. It is important to note here that there is partial supervision of the wells from which industrial facilities draw water, but this supervision is constantly postponed in agricultural irrigation.

The most urgent issue in Turkey's water management is to take urgent measures, not only with prohibitive measures, but with a holistic and participatory management approach at the basin scale. Because if we are late, it will take a very long time and cost us a lot of money to restore our groundwater in terms of quality and quantity. The measures to be taken for the rational, planned and efficient management of water are included in many plans such as Basin Protection, Basin Strategic Planning, Basin Management, National Water Plan prepared in the last 10 years. However, these plans should now be taken off the dusty shelves and put into practice with a participatory and transparent approach.

Nature Based Solutions and Green Transformation 

In the coming period, the most fundamental concepts that water management should take into account will be nature-based solutions and the increasing water-energy-food and ecology relationship. I am no longer counting basic concepts such as participation, transparency, integrated management approach, etc. We need to get past these so that we do not incur the wrath of nature's reflex to protect itself from us with the damage we cause to the ecosystem balance. For this, we need an understanding of water management that takes into account the connection and balance between sectors and the natural environment, which is called Nexus in English. We can do this with an integrated approach at the water basin scale. On the other hand, each of the fields of water-energy-food and ecology is now recognized as a national security issue. This may lead countries to seek cooperation through the linkages of these sectors, but it may also result in the securitization of these resources. Turkey is a country with transboundary water relations with the Middle East, a geography where this outcome can easily occur. In order to continue our policy of utilizing our water resources for regional peace and stability, we should set high policy goals such as becoming an innovative and leading country in water management in the region. Here, too, we need to move forward by taking into account an interdisciplinary way of thinking and innovative basic concepts of water management.

Preparing for Digital Transformation

We need to talk more about the digital transformation in the world, the nature-based water management approach, the green transformation, the green consensus, the energy-water-food-ecology relationship and the thresholds in front of their implementation and make the necessary preparations for them. 

First of all, we need to increase our digital literacy and build our digital institutional infrastructure. At the same time, we need to change our traditional, cumbersome working approach in many institutions and organizations. We now have to think and plan better about what we do and for what purpose.

We need to develop a culture of interdisciplinary thinking alongside our institutional capacity. In the 21st century's rapidly changing world, our need for a radical change in thinking is increasing every day. Tying the cart in front of the horse and waiting to move forward costs us a lot.