Page 31 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1

Zekâi Şen

To a large extent, people have adapted their social conditions to the
changing circumstances of water resources and demands affected by the
climate. The best examples are the water systems built to solve water problems
such as water cisterns and aqueducts, in Istanbul from the time of the Romans.
Other examples include the embankments, fountains, and Durusu (Terkos)
and Elmalı dams from the Ottoman period, and the groundwater wells and
additional dams built during the new Republic period, and the transport of
water from distant places through pipes, water waste facilities, and finally the
salt water (from the Black Sea) purification systems.
To tackle the issue, all units of municipalities and governments as well as
private sector and shareholders must continue to work on water management,
taking the effects of climate change into account. In this respect, scientific
methods alone should not be seen as a magic wand to solve the issue of
water management. Instead, the process should involve social, economic and
cultural aspects as well.
Water management requires organization, extraction, and distribution of
existing water resources by taking into account the effects of climate change.
Additionally, efficient and responsible use is a necessity for river sources
towards irrigation and power cooling. It is also advisable that not only the
control, but also the predictions on overflows should be done with climate
change in mind.
In order to protect water resources against the negative impacts of climate
change, it is advisable to preserve hydrological basins and be prepared for
extreme disastrous conditions. Moreover, the relevant adaptation options
should be based on the effects of climate change. Designing engineering
structures such as dams, embankments and drainage networks to adapt to
climate change requires flexibility in management. However, these adaptation
options have social and environmental costs.
Updating existing infrastructure to deal with future climate trends better
is preferred to building more new constructions. While making decisions on
design, it seems beneficial to focus on extreme exposure rather than changes
in average conditions.
Due to poor and insufficient water infrastructure and management,
deteriorations in local water resources, and accordingly, water ecosystems
could be observed. It is possible to solve the problem or better these
conditions through cooperation between public institutions, local and
municipal administrators. Even developed countries feel the effects of climate
change as they fail to upgrade their old water distribution networks. Each
country should take into account the circumstances related to its own location
and conditions and continue to generate solutions and mitigate the effects of

16 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate,