Turkey's first biological seepage pond is in Izmir
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality's Sponge City project, which aimed to combat drought, resulted in the creation of Turkey's first biological seepage pond. Stating that rainwater harvesting will be done with a pond that can store 60 thousand cubic meters of water underground in Ödemiş, Mayor Soyer said, “Products that will increase our prosperity, not impoverish us, will grow on these lands. Because a different agriculture is possible."
Reacting to the decision of the Court of Accounts banning the purchase of products directly from small producers, Mayor Soyer said, “Nationalism and conservatism do not mean putting the farmers producing on these lands into competition with big companies. Nationalism means protecting that producer."
With the Sponge City Izmir project implemented by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality within the scope of combating drought, Turkey's first biological seepage pond was created in the Ödemiş district of Izmir. With the project, the rainwater falling on the roof areas of Bademli Cooperative's greenhouses and the agricultural areas around the pond, and all water returning from agricultural irrigation in the summer months will be transported to the percolation pond through drainage channels and pipelines, the water that can hold approximately 24 Olympic pools per year will be stored underground. All the water needs of 196 thousand m² of agricultural land and Bademli Cooperative will be met with this water stored underground.
The opening of the Bademli Biological Leakage Pond and recharge well facilities was held with a ceremony hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer. Ödemiş Mayor Mehmet Eriş and Beydağ Mayor Feridun Yılmazlar, Village-Koop İzmir Union Chairman Neptün Soyer, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Secretary General Barış Karcı, headmen and many citizens attended the opening ceremony.
“We designed it to be a balm for the wound caused by drought”
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer, who started his speech by stating that they witnessed a historical moment when they raised the flag of the resilient city of Izmir in Ödemiş today, said that Bademli Biological Leakage Pond will be the fountain of the abundance of the Küçük Menderes Basin. Explaining that they designed this project to be a salve for the wound caused by drought, which is the biggest problem of the basin, Mayor Tunç Soyer said, “With our pond and recharge wells, we will be a lifeline to our farmers in the Küçük Menderes Basin, who are struggling with drought. We will refill our groundwater and increase its abundance. We know that if there is water, there is abundance; if there is water, there is labor; if there is water, there is food. "Our Bademli Biological Leakage Pond will bring that water back to the Küçük Menderes Basin."
“If we want to change, we have to show our will”
Reminding that the groundwater in the Küçük Menderes Basin is gradually decreasing, Mayor Tunç Soyer said, “This plain, which was once the food warehouse of Turkey with its fertile lands, is becoming increasingly barren. Even though we cannot see our water underground, many wells have dried up. Scientists interpret the cause of the collapse events in many parts of the basin as excessive groundwater use. We all know very well that this sad picture is not only caused by the climate crisis and drought. There is only one person responsible for us being in this situation today. Those who promote silage corn, each of which consumes 85 liters of water, those who set fire to our dining tables and fields with the wrong agricultural and irrigation policies... This order cannot continue like this! Not possible. "If we want to change this situation, we must show our will."
“Izmir will not fall into this game”
Emphasizing that they have to save these lands from silage corn, which is a genetically modified food, Mayor Soyer said: “If we want our children not to go to bed hungry and the Küçük Menderes Basin not to become a desert, we have to abandon corn silage. If we love our country's lands and homeland, we must eliminate silage corn. Because of this product, we abandoned the pastures where local animal breeds grazed in our mountains. In our fertile plains where wheat, fruits and vegetables are produced, there are now only corn fields. We know very well who is behind this production that the government insistently supports. They now want to usurp our lands, which they could not occupy with their dirty boots, with their seeds. But let them know, Izmir will not fall into this game! The children of the Republic have and will spoil all kinds of dark games in these lands!"
“We promised to bring abundance back to the Küçük Menderes Basin.”
Stating that almost half of the agricultural lands in the Menderes Plain are planted with corn for silage, Mayor Soyer said, “There is neither fertility in our soil nor radiance in our water. But together, we promised to bring abundance back to the Küçük Menderes Basin. We promised to protect your sweat and labor, and we did it. Our Sponge City Izmir Project became one of the milestones on this path we set out to protect the abundance and lands of Izmir. "One of our goals is to utilize the rain falling on our cities and return it to the natural water cycle," he said.
“We will protect these lands”
Stating that they support the farmers in the Küçük Menderes plain with 2 thousand free filtering tanks, Soyer said, “Thanks to these tanks, we will enrich our underground water reserves by filtering the water we harvest from our roofs. Our Bademli Pond, Turkey's first biological leakage pond, which brings us together today, will be the carrier column of our rain harvesting efforts. With the rainwater falling on the roofs of the greenhouses of our Bademli Cooperative and the agricultural areas around the pond, we will store 60 cubic meters of water underground, enough to fill 24 Olympic pools. In short, my dear brothers and sisters, we will protect these lands. We will protect water. We will protect you. We will protect our sweat, our labor and our bread. These lands will grow products to increase our prosperity, not impoverish us. Because another agriculture is possible! Because another water management is possible. "Let our Bademli Biological Leakage Pond be a gift to the real owners of these lands, the masters of the nation."
“Nationalism means protecting the producers”
In his speech, Mayor Soyer also reacted to the Court of Accounts' decision to ban the direct purchase of products from small producers and said, “What is nationalism? If you do not protect this country, its land, water, workers, farmers, and villagers who sweat into it, there is no point. Conservatism and nationalism mean protecting the labor and workers of this land. This is to protect the water and fertility of the soil. It is not about removing the exception in Article 3A and putting the farmers producing on these lands into competition with big companies. Nationalism means protecting that producer. Conservatism means protecting it. It is to protect his sweat. No one should give me nationalism or conservatism or arrogance. That nationalist is me; that conservative is me. As Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said, every factory is a castle. And we will increase those castles. We have built 4 castles so far and we built them with the inspiration we received from Ataturk. Don't worry, we will build more castles and factories. None of these are dreams. "We will continue to do what we have done until now," he said.
“We will continue to buy products from you”
Mayor Soyer also gave purchasing assurance to the producers and said: “No producer brother should have any doubts. We will continue to buy. Being right is not enough in this beautiful country. You also have to say out loud that you are right, because no one can hear you. We will hold a big farmer rally in the coming days. We will hold a big rally that will raise Turkey up. We will remind all of Turkey of your rights, your law, your sweat and your labor. We will get our rights. Because these lands should be lands that enrich us, not impoverish us. The fertility of this land is sufficient for all of us. Some people say, 'We will spread the tax to the grassroots.' Brother, spread prosperity among the grassroots. The tax is already at the base. We will spread prosperity to the grassroots because we know; Another Agriculture and another country is possible. These are not a destiny. This poverty and misery is not destiny. “It is possible to change and we will change it together.”
“Tunç Mayor is with us in every step we take”
Ödemiş Mayor Mehmet Eriş thanked Mayor Soyer for his investments in the district and said, “You have always been a solution and guided us when we were helpless, shone a light. You said Another Agriculture is Possible and you worked accordingly, and we always believed and trusted you. We now want to carry this companionship into the future. Now is the time. It suits you to be a leader and a pioneer in Turkey. We experience it today too. We work peacefully with cooperatives. We will continue to work. Tunç Mayor is with us in every step we take. "Long live Tunç President.”
“Water is vital for everyone”
Neptün Soyer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Village-Koop İzmir Union, touched upon the importance of the pond in her speech and said, "Exactly five years ago, our İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor told us about it with his bureaucrats in Ödemiş. We speak a lot at podiums and other venues. But today, we understand the importance of this. We have established an ecosystem in Izmir that can bring what we say to life. When cooperatives, unions, and local governments join hands, we can keep our promises. "This pond is really important for us, because water is vital for everyone."
Neptün Soyer's call to the ministry to 'buy the products'
Criticizing the Court of Accounts report that prevented Izmir Metropolitan Municipality from purchasing directly from small producers, Neptün Soyer called on the Ministry to "You buy it" and said, "We need water to feed the animals. At the same time, we need citizens who will look after those animals and live in the village. We need the village too. But beyond that, we found an interlocutor like Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, with whom we can sell our products while living in the village and producing during this economic crisis. But the Court of Accounts told us, 'Produce milk, but you cannot give milk as ayran. You can't sell processed products. We are not just saying that the municipality should buy it. 3A says 'public'. Public; governor's office, state universities, state prisons, cafeterias of universities where children study... You can all buy it. If you don't think it is appropriate for municipalities to buy it, you should buy it. Let the Ministry, Provincial Directorate of Agriculture take it. "Buy this ayran from us."
“Pressure is being applied with Court of Accounts reports”
Stating that local governments and cooperatives work in harmony, Hurşit Nallı, President of Ödemiş Bademli Fidancılık Agricultural Development Cooperative, touched upon the Court of Accounts report in his speech and said: “Thanks to the solidarity of municipalities and cooperatives in Izmir, many projects are being carried out, from distributing fruit saplings to producers to delivering milk to children. Thanks to these good efforts, cooperatives are becoming stronger. This way, quality and healthy products are supplied, and sales capabilities are increased by supporting cooperatives. With these efforts, our Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has achieved the strongest momentum in the field of agriculture in Turkey, and Izmir has become an exemplary city in the world in the field of cooperatives. However, pressure is being applied to Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, which embraces the importance of cooperatives and provides such important support to domestic production with the Court of Accounts Reports. Since the producer does not have a chance to compete in front of big companies, these reports are trying to take away the farmers' bread. Our Izmir Metropolitan Municipality greatly contributes to cooperatives' industrialization and marketing ability by purchasing food items from cooperatives to be distributed to children and those in need. The legal dimension of these projects is regulated in Article 3A of the Public Procurement Law. Our Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has been supporting domestic production for many years and making its purchases from cooperatives in line with these legal obligations. Attempts to make cooperatives, which are important to the country's economy, inoperable will have a negative impact on both producers and consumers. As a result of the disruption of cooperatives in the short term, the national economy will be greatly damaged in the long term. Since the projects implemented by local governments and cooperatives for years are undoubtedly of great importance for our country's economy; "We, the producers, demand that the competent authorities immediately correct this deficiency," he said.
Sponge City Izmir project is growing
The Sponge City Izmir project, which was implemented in line with the vision of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer, "Another Water Management is Possible", continues. With the project, an incentive system for rainwater harvesting is implemented, 5 thousand rainwater tanks are distributed to 5 thousand buildings, and a 10 thousand rain garden campaign is carried out in Izmir. Bus stops are being transformed into nature-friendly green stops by harvesting rainwater. A green transformation is also carried out in cemetery areas with rainwater harvesting.
The Metropolitan Municipality transforms the city's impermeable roads, parking lots and similar surface areas covered with asphalt and concrete into permeable areas in order to prevent floods. It prevents floods by directing the rainwater falling in these areas to parks and medians, and realizes green transformations with the water cycle.
Küçük Menderes Plain Rainwater Harvesting works, which constitute the rural leg of the Sponge City project, continue at full speed. With the project, rainwater is harvested by establishing recharge-feeding wells, leakage cisterns, and leakage ponds to recharge groundwater in the Küçük Menderes Basin. For this purpose, Turkey's first biological infiltration pond was built in Ödemiş, which will store 60 thousand cubic meters of water underground, that is, the water that 24 Olympic pools can accumulate. The pond is 2.5 m deep and has an area of 1255 m2. Based on the aquifer tests, 3 m3 per day per square meter leakage and 769 m2 leakage area were determined as design criteria and it was built with these hydraulic data. Water coming from agricultural areas to the lake area is cleaned from harmful chemicals in pesticides by biofiltration and given to the aquifer system. In this respect, it is Turkey's first biological seepage pond.
With the project, it is planned to build Izmir as a sponge city within five years and to reduce rainwater flow in the urban area by 70 percent within these five years.
09.12.2023