Water losses in water supply and distribution systems have been a serious problem in Turkey and all over the world causing economic costs and environmental drawbacks. Total water losses is the summation of real (physical) and apparent (commercial) losses. Main activities to reduce water losses include digitizing the components of network into Geographical Information Systems, dividing large water distribution networks into District Metered Areas, monitoring of flow rates and water pressures, carrying out yearly water balance, hydraulic modelling, pressure management, active leakage control, recording water consumption of the users, reducing meter errors and illegal water consumption. In 2014, the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs in Turkey issued a new regulation for water losses reduction, based on the methods used to determine and reduce the losses. This is followed by issuing practical description of the technical procedure to reduce the losses. The new legislation aims to reduce total water losses in all water authorities below 25% within certain time periods. All the water authorities in Turkey are required to carry out yearly water balance and report them to the ministry together with forms to follow up the efforts towards water losses reduction. In order to apply the prescribed techniques in a successful way, water losses problem should be understood well, technical and human resource capacity should be improved, and sufficient financial resources should be allocated. Also, the water utilities should have a strategic plan and a strong commitment to reduce water losses.
The sustainable development agenda 2030 calls for achievement of certain targets to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Multi-stakeholder partnerships and the use of data and modelling tools are conditioning elements for their achievement. In this article, we demonstrate that participatory modelling supports informed and participatory decision making in complex river basins. An adapted companion modelling approach is presented to support collective action by reducing disputes and enhancing collaboration among stakeholders. The co-development and use of empirical models for understanding the complexity of the physical system is combined with the use of role-playing games to ensure the active involvement of stakeholders. The approach is implemented in a top-down water quality planning process in Turkey. Results show its suitability for managing water quality in complex river basins in an inclusive manner and its substantial benefits in developing stakeholders' capacities and creating a cooperative environment.
In this study, the improvement scenarios for water quality in Mogan Lake were investigated using the AQUATOX Model. The ecosystem model AQUATOX simulates conventional pollutants, such as nutrients and sediments, and considers several trophic levels, including attached and planktonic algae, submerged aquatic vegetation, several types of invertebrates, and several types of fish. In this study, all data measured at both lakes and creeks was loaded into the AQUATOX Model including both initial concentration and dynamic loading for the year 2002. Then, the AQUATOX Model was calibrated and verified for the years 2004 and 2005. Accordingly, the Aquatox Model was utilized for the analysis of future scenarios as to improve water quality in terms of conventional parameters such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, total suspended solids, pH, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and labile and refractory organic matters in water colon and sediment. During the development of future scenarios, some plans regarding measures were taken into account the modeling periods. In one of the scenarios, constructed wetlands located in big creeks' mouths were used for improving the water quality in Mogan Lake. The results indicated that Mogan Lake would improve its hypertrophic situation towards eutrophic situation. It would be anticipated that if the situation goes on like this, Mogan Lake would improve eutrophic situation towards mezotrophic situation.
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