Turkey’s second-largest lake faces a water crisis as drought and groundwater pumping for agriculture threaten an ecosystem that supports wildlife, salt production and tourism.
Tuz Gölü (Salt Lake) stretches across central Anatolia, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) south of Ankara, the capital.
One of the world’s saltiest lakes, it is Turkey’s most important breeding site for flamingos.
At sunset hundreds of flamingos feed in its waters, their pink and red wings contrasting with the salt flats.
Visitors from Turkey and abroad walk through the shallow water, photographing their reflections as daylight fades.
But the water that sustains the birds and attracts tourists is disappearing.
Barely 50 centimeters (20 inches) deep, the lake lies in one of Turkey’s most water-stressed regions, where rainfall is scarce, and nearly dried up this summer.
Around 1,000 young flamingos died in 2021 after water shortages increased the lake’s salinity and left too little water for the chicks, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Groundwater pumping for agriculture in the Konya basin compounds the shortages, leaving the lake more vulnerable to drought.
Only 3 percent of precipitation falling across the basin reaches the lake, researchers at Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in Ankara found two years ago.
The consequences extend beyond wildlife and tourism.
The lake supplies around two-thirds of Turkey’s annual salt production, providing jobs for people in the area.
Along its shores, machinery harvests salt from the flats for transport to processing facilities, where it is refined and shipped to buyers in Turkey and abroad.
© Agence France-Presse
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