General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works

Floating solar panels have the potential to give a huge boost to Türkiye's installed electricity capacity, according to a top official from the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.

A bill submitted by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) paves the way for establishing floating photovoltaics (FPV) on natural and artificial lakes as well as the country's seas.

A total of 140 dams were inspected in the earthquake zone and no situation requiring urgent intervention has been found as there was no serious damage, The General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI) stated.

Lake Marmara, a major bird sanctuary in the western province of Manisa, has dried up due to drought, causing families to fight over land conflict.

While one person lost his life and two people were injured in four separate land fights on the lake, three of the eight people detained were arrested.

Racketeers are exploiting legal loopholes to grab lands on lakes and around dams that are drying due to drought and leasing them out for commercial agricultural activities, daily Milliyet has reported.

Those lands, which emerge when water levels in lakes or dams recede, are very fertile but they normally belong to the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSİ).

Turkish authorities are planning to install solar panels on lakes and dams to prevent evaporation as some of the major lakes in Anatolia are under the threat of drought due to reduced precipitation levels resulting from global warming.

A submerged village has been revealed after a drop in rainfall that led to a decline in the water level in a dam, also exposing a historical mosque and its minaret.

An aerial picture taken by a drone shows Guzelce aqueduct on the part of the Alibeykoy dam in Istanbul, Turkey, 10 December 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN

The levels are at their lowest in 10 years, with reservoirs in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Bursa - Turkey's four biggest cities - only 24 per cent, 23 per cent, 36 per cent and 24 per cent full respectively.

A drop in rainfall has led to a decline in water levels in dams supplying water to Istanbul, Turkey's most populous province.

The dams held the lowest water level in the past 10 years as of Nov. 22, at 26.34 percent, Demirören News Agency reported.

Activists and the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) are in a disagreement over the fate of an artificial pond established on water resources nourishing the Salda Lake in Turkey's southern province of Burdur's Yeşilova district.