Mayor Altay: “We must continue to develop smart solutions for the water issue”

Uğur İbrahim Altay, President of the International Agricultural Cities Union (AgriCities) and Mayor of Konya Metropolitan Municipality, spoke at the Metropolitan Mayors Session held as part of the 6th International Local Governments Agriculture Congress organized by AgriCities.

Hosted by Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality, the Metropolitan Mayors Session took place at the Necip Fazıl Kısakürek Cultural Center and was moderated by AgriCities Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mücahit Sami Küçüktığlı.

Mayor Altay reminded that every city has its own advantages and disadvantages, saying, “Konya has vast plains, but unfortunately, we are in a city without the water needed to irrigate them. To turn challenges into opportunities, we are carrying out significant work together with our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.”

Emphasizing that climate change has become a factor that directly affects life, Mayor Altay stated, “We thought our children would witness its effects, but we are now facing them much more quickly and intensely than expected. In our cities, we are experiencing problems not only with agricultural irrigation but also with drinking water. We must take measures for this, especially in Konya.”

Highlighting the ongoing water crisis, Mayor Altay said, “On the other hand, we need to find new solutions to the issues that pose challenges for us. Under the Konya Plain Project (KOP), 440 million cubic meters of water are planned to be brought to Konya. For this, we are building three dams and two tunnels, spending billions of lira. This was one of the most important projects of its time. However, due to low rainfall, we are currently receiving only 20 million cubic meters of water from the dams that should supply 240 million cubic meters. So, what should we do about this? We actually have a continuous water source in all our cities: our Wastewater Treatment Plants. Because we must provide water to the cities and ensure that residents have access to it. Therefore, we need to adapt these waters by changing the treatment capacities, methods, and systems to ensure they can definitely be used in agriculture. For this reason, we are working with the DSİ and the Ministry. We are increasing our capacity, and our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is making efforts to create agricultural lands with a closed system. We must continue to develop smart solutions to the water issue.”