Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality starts campaign on careful use of water

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has warned residents to use water more efficiently as water levels in the city's dams decreased to 24.4 percent, almost half of the rate in the same month last year.

The reason for this sharp fall was the lack of rain in November, the municipality said.

Water levels were at 45.27 percent in the same month last year.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu started a campaign on social media with the hashtag #birliktebasaracagiz (We will succeed together), inviting residents to use water more carefully and efficiently.

He recommended residents to not leave the tap running while they brush their teeth or shave and to not flush the toilet at unnecessary frequency. He said 50 drops of water a minute means 750 liters of water a month.

But the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry said Istanbul has enough water for two-and-a-half months even if it was facing the prospect of no rain.

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