Bursa faces severe water crisis amid scheduled water cuts

BURSA

Türkiye’s northwestern province of Bursa, historically known as “the city of water” for its abundant springs, is now facing an acute water shortage, with officials warning that supplies could run out within a week if rainfall does not arrive and scheduled cuts are already underway.

The crisis has reached a critical point after the Nilüfer Dam, built in 2007 with a capacity of 60 million cubic meters, completely dried up, leaving behind cracked soil.

Meanwhile, the Doğancı Dam, which normally provides the bulk of the city’s drinking water, has dropped to just 6.8 percent of its capacity.

Together, the city’s reservoirs currently hold only 3.34 percent of their drinking water capacity.

Bursa Mayor Mustafa Bozbey said the city of 3.2 million people consumes around 525,000 cubic meters of water daily.

He warned that without rainfall or cuts in supply, the Doğancı Dam could run dry by Oct. 6.

“Every day, about 25 centimeters of water is lost from Doğancı Dam. If no water comes in, the reserves will be exhausted within days,” he said, adding that groundwater levels have already fallen from 10 meters to as deep as 250 meters due to prolonged drought.

“This shows how severely the Bursa Plain has been affected by drought,” the mayor said.

The crisis has been exacerbated by two consecutive years of weak snowfall on Uludağ, one of Türkiye’s most important winter tourism centers and insufficient rainfall across the province.

Currently, about half of Bursa’s water comes from the Doğancı and Nilüfer dams, 15 percent from mountain springs and 35 percent from 155 deep wells operated by the local water authority, BUSKİ.

To avert an immediate crisis, the city activated a bypass system to transfer water from the Çınarcık Dam, which stands at 50 percent capacity with 75 million cubic meters available for drinking use.

“The bypass system is currently a lifeline,” Bozbey said. “If we had not implemented, the city would already be suffering shortages. We must prepare now as experts warn that droughts in the coming years will only intensify.”

Authorities are also negotiating with the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) to divert the dam’s entire supply — originally split between household use and industry — to secure drinking water for the city.

Despite these measures, BUSKİ announced planned water cuts, starting with 12-hour daily outages across central and outlying districts for 10 days.

Hospitals and the Uludağ University will be exempt from the restrictions.

Officials said the rationing aims to save 100,000 cubic meters of water per day until rainfall replenishes the reservoirs.