Minister Kurum makes statements at Izmir Gulf Coordination Board Meeting

By News Centre

Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum made statements at the Izmir Gulf Coordination Board Meeting. Minister Kurum said, "What is happening in the Gulf today is a truly great environmental disaster. The amount of ammonia in the sea from wastewater is exactly 50 times more than it should be. To emphasize; there is currently no life left in some parts of our Gulf." Minister Kurum said, "We warned the municipality 13 times."

Here are the statements of the Minister Kurum;
I greet you with love, respect and reverence. Today, we are in our beautiful Izmir, in a very meaningful time, Izmir's Liberation Week.

As you know, our Izmir Gulf has recently come to the fore again with mass fish deaths, bad smells and images.

Today, we are on our TÜB?TAK Ship. We are conducting the necessary field work with our scientists, governors, and municipalities to see those images and their causes that make us all ache.

Our Gulf of Izmir is a natural wonder that is the apple of the world's eye. This is where the enemy was driven into the sea during the War of Independence. It is the most meaningful point and magnificent region of our Blue Homeland. It is the symbolic place of our independence. This place is a piece of heaven with its beautiful islands, salt flats, lagoons, bird sanctuary and lagoons.

"Exactly 50 times more than it should be"

Unfortunately, today; all these beauties I listed are in danger, they are literally dying. Our Izmir Gulf can no longer breathe due to pollution coming from the land. Our fish are experiencing mass deaths.

As the Ministry, we recently took action to investigate the reasons for this painful situation. We took sea water samples from different points of the gulf.

I am sorry to say that. The amount of ammonia in the sea from wastewater is 50 times more than it should be.

So what does this mean? It means that domestic and industrial waste is mixed into water without being purified. This brings with it an odor problem and threatens human health.

"There is no life in some parts of our Gulf"

When we look at the oxygen in the sea, we see a similar picture. While the oxygen level in the Gulf of Izmir should be 6 milligrams/liter, this level has dropped to 1.8, and in some places to 0.

In the Monitoring Results made by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, it was seen that pollution parameters showed a serious increase especially after 2020.

Currently, in the Inner Gulf; harmful substances such as total phosphorus, Chlorophyll-a and Ammonium nitrogen are exactly 2 times higher than the limit values. Unfortunately, in our Inner Gulf; water movement and circulation in the sea has come to a standstill.

To underline it; there is currently no life left in some parts of our Gulf. Our fish have died because they were left without oxygen.

When we look at the condition of the 7 streams that flow into our gulf, we see that the result is deplorable. Today, the water in the streams is in the worst condition in history in terms of "organic pollution".

I would like to underline two important issues. As you know; the Grand Canal Project was carried out to clean the Gulf of Izmir. In this project; due to the fact that rainwater and sewage networks were combined; exactly 5.5 times more polluted and solid matter flows into the sea. This is truly a vital problem for our sea.

Again; the inefficient operation of the Çi?li wastewater treatment plant is another problem. As the Ministry; we have warned the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality many times because the Çi?li Wastewater Treatment Plant is not operated properly. We have imposed 13 separate fines totaling more than 6 million liras in the last 5 years.

The reason for these penalties is that the facility is not operated properly; it pollutes Izmir Bay more than the previous day every day. I ask you to pay attention to this. We took samples from Çi?li Wastewater Treatment Plant 12 days ago, on August 23. The analysis result upset us again. Because the solid matter value in the facility has increased to exactly 4 times the limit it should be.

Well, why does this problem arise? Let me explain it to our citizens simply! The installed capacity of the Çi?li wastewater treatment plant is approximately 605,000 cubic meters per day. But the amount of wastewater coming to the plant exceeds 700,000 cubic meters per day.

"What is happening in the Gulf is a complete environmental disaster"

Excess wastewater coming to the facility is not treated in the facility; a very high amount of solid waste is directly dumped into the central bay without being treated. It accumulates at the bottom of our Izmir Bay, increases the bottom mud, and deeply affects living things.

We will sit crooked and talk straight. What is happening in the Gulf today is a great environmental disaster. The ecosystem of the Gulf of Izmir has now come to the point of complete collapse; the Gulf of Izmir is dying.

Those responsible for this beautiful sea becoming what it is are those who said in election campaigns, "We will swim in the Gulf of Izmir" but did not take a single step for the gulf while they were in office.

Those responsible are the ones who are now making a fool of themselves by saying, "These fish do not belong to us, they were brought in by ships" in order to hide their crimes.

The ones responsible for this pollution are the municipalities that cannot even separate rainwater and sewage channels, cannot even operate established wastewater facilities, and are incapable of even rehabilitating their streams.

As the Ministry, we will continue to do our duty of monitoring and supervising those responsible for Izmir with determination. We have established our scientific board. We will discuss what we will do with our scientists, NGO representatives and public institutions in the coordination meeting we will hold soon.

Hopefully, our board will guide local governments from now on. Our scientists will create roadmaps and give homework to local administrators in Izmir on combating pollution.

As the Ministry, we will follow up instantly whether the municipalities are doing their homework or not. If there are any deficiencies, we will tell you.