Thread by @MesMitch

Erdoğan’s ‘crazy project': new Istanbul canal to link Black and Marmara Seas😡Proposed route slices through a major drinking water source and an important stop for migratory birds😡hurriyetdailynews.com/kanal-istanbul…

To the west of Istanbul, between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea, lie diverse landscapes of forest, farms, marshes and ancient settlements. Following a curving line from north to south would connect you through the Terkos Lake, Sazlıdere stream and reservoir and Küçükçekmece

lagoon, important water sources for migratory birds – not to mention the city’s residents.

This line, however, is also the path of Kanal İstanbul, a $12.6bn mega-infrastructure plan described by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as his “crazy project” when he first mentioned the idea in 2011.

Critics – who include the mayor of Istanbul – warn of a great environmental cost, including the potential ecological destruction of the Marmara Sea. There is a delicate ecological balance between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea, currently connected by the Bosphorus strait.

“The salinity of Black Sea is less than Marmara Sea, and the organic content of Black Sea is much higher than that of Marmara Sea,” says Cevahir Efe Akçelik, Istanbul secretary of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects.

Because the Black Sea is 50cm higher than the Marmara, both the level and salinity density would change if the two were connected by the canal.

Not only that, the flow of cellular organisms into the Marmara would eat up extra oxygen.

The loss of oxygen could see bacteria and other organisms create a sulphurous gas, the scent of which could spread across Istanbul like rotten eggs. And there are fears it could wipe out life in the Marmara entirely.

One section also directly threatens Istanbul water supply. Terkos Lake and Sazlıdere reservoir provide a quarter of the city’s drinking water the city has drawn water from the lake since the Roman period and it has always been regarded symbolically as Istanbul’s main water source

Should those reserves be lost, Akçelik says, there is no alternative water source on the European side of Istanbul. Instead the government would have to pump water from the Sakarya River, deep on the Asian side.

That would be much more expensive. It also carries health hazards, given the river passes through Turkey’s capital, Ankara, and through polluted industrial areas to reach the Black Sea.

The canal would also destroy Küçükçekmece lagoon, which in turn could see hundreds of different species vanish, scientists warn. The lagoon is an important stop for migratory birds, particularly the Cetti’s warbler, grey heron, eastern imperial eagle and the flamingo,

who all lay their eggs in Küçükçekmece.“If you lose that lake, you lose not only a drinking water source, but a really important ecology,” Akçelik says.

The government finalised the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Kanal Istanbul, declaring it did not foresee any issues

Greenpeace has submitted an appeal of its own.

“In many respects, Istanbul, one of the most important and unique cities in the world, is going to be thrown into disaster with this unpredictable project,” says Greenpeace’s Mediterranean program director, Deniz Bayram.

Erdoğan has said there is no alternative to the Kanal İstanbul project for limiting traffic through the Bosphorus, and claimed all appropriate environmental and technical surveys have been undertaken.

The Bosphorus strait is an internationally important shipping route. Around 48,000 ships pass through its waters annually, including oil tankers and war ships. The government claims there are risks posed by ships carrying dangerous goods

The construction of new petroleum and natural gas pipelines between countries has meant less reliance on ships and tankers to transport resources.

Accidents have been falling as well, according to municipal officials, who point to improvements in maritime transport and shipping sector technology. “For many years, we have not encountered a serious accident in the Bosphorus and I hope we will not in the future,” Akgün says.

“The main idea is creating a new city in northern Istanbul,” Akçelik explained.

Akgün agrees and says he believes the new works will significantly disrupt the area’s climate. “The construction areas to be formed around it will transform into an urban

heat island, changing the temperature, humidity, evaporation and wind regimes in a very short time,” he says.

“Considering all these points, it becomes clearer what kind of an environmental disaster we are facing.”