Barış Ecevit Akgün, Head of EIA Monitoring and Environmental Inspection Department of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, General Directorate of Environmental Impact Assessment, Permit and Inspection, said in the analyzes carried out by TÜBİTAK that biological production continues in the Sea of Marmara, but red algae is not the cause of mucilage formation of the existing bacteria. He said it was determined to be a type of bacteria.
Akgün introduced the Mobile Water and Waste Water Analysis Laboratory, which is located in Technopark Istanbul in Pendik, to the members of the press, and gave information about the studies they carry out on mucilage and environmental control.
Reminding that they held meetings with the participation of the relevant people on 4 and 5 June after mucilage came to the agenda last year, Akgün stated that as a result of the evaluations, the Marmara Sea Action Plan, consisting of 6 articles, was shared with the public on 22 June by the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Murat Kurum.
Akgün explained that a coordination center and scientific committee were established in Istanbul within the scope of the action plan, and that they started work on the removal of mucilage on 8 June.
Explaining that the most effective way of carrying out the activities in the Marmara Sea by considering the principles of protection and use in a sustainable way at the meetings, Akgün reminded that the area was declared a special environmental protection area, and that the Marmara Sea and the Islands Region were declared as a "special environmental protection area" by the Presidency.
Stating that the discharge standards were restricted in order to reduce the parameters that cause pollution in the Sea of Marmara, thereby reducing the pollution load, Akgün said that the discharge standards of wastewater treatment plants were reduced by 20 to 50 percent, depending on the type and working principle of the facility.
Akgün stated that waste water treatment plants with a capacity of more than 5 thousand cubic meters were monitored online within the scope of the environmental legislation in force when the mucilage incident occurred last year, adding, “This standard has been further reduced in the Marmara Basin, specifically for mucilage, and wastewater treatment plants with a waste water flow rate of over 1000 cubic meters. started to be viewed online. Thus, waste water treatment plants and cooling waters with much smaller capacity in the Marmara Basin are now continuously monitored online.” said.
Administrative penalty of approximately 974 million Turkish Liras was imposed on 99 facilities and 137 vessels.
Barış Ecevit Akgün stated that technical examinations were carried out in all 445 wastewater treatment plants in the basin and the revision needs of the plants were determined, and said the following regarding their work:
“At the same time, Marmara Integrated Strategic Plan was published in order to carry out the works to improve the environmental situation of Marmara within a plan. In this plan, which is aimed to be completed within 3 years, 134 sub-activities and institutions and organizations responsible for these activities were determined. On the other hand, our audit activities continue actively in the field. We sent over 400 environmental inspectors and 3 mobile waste water laboratories to the region in order to contribute to the inspections routinely carried out by our provincial directorates. While conducting our inspections on land-based pollutants, on the one hand, inspections related to discharges originating from ships were increased by the municipalities to which we have delegated authority and by our Coast Guard Command, on the other hand. As a result of our inspections of more than 14 thousand, we imposed administrative fines of approximately 974 million liras on 99 facilities and 137 vessels, and we banned 147 enterprises from operating.”
Noting that the monitoring studies on the water quality in the seas continue, Akgün said that since 2014, they have been monitoring the seas at 425 points with the participation of all marine sciences institutes under the coordination of TÜBİTAK.
“The presence of nitrogen and phosphorus leads to increased biological production”
Akgün stated that, independently of marine monitoring studies, they have been carrying out monitoring studies at 2017 points in the Sea of Marmara in cooperation with METU since 91 and continued as follows:
“After the mucilage incident, we increased our monitoring point in the Marmara Sea to 150. We weren't content with removing it, we did a monitoring study at 600 points. At the end of the monitoring studies, we determined that the amount of dissolved oxygen was low, as in previous years, and that the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus remained as in previous years. In particular, the presence of nitrogen and phosphorus, which we call nutritional salt, causes an increase in biological production. In the past days, there were news that mucilage was seen again in the Marmara Region. Upon these news, we took samples from the region. In the analyzes carried out by TÜBİTAK, it was determined that biological production continues, but the existing bacteria is not the type of bacteria that causes mucilage formation, but red algae type bacteria. However, we have intensified our monitoring and inspection activities in the region, just in case. Yesterday, we received 196 samples from 58 wastewater treatment plants in the Marmara Basin. We imposed administrative fines on 4 businesses. We banned 3 businesses from operating because they were found to be operating in violation of the legislation.”
Akgün said that he is of the opinion that if all the sub-activities in the Marmara Integrated Strategic Plan, which consists of an action plan consisting of 22 items and 134 sub-activities, are completed, the pollution load coming to the Marmara Sea will decrease significantly and environmental good conditions will be achieved only after all these activities are completed.
Evaluating the possibility of reappearance of mucilage with the warming of the weather, Akgün said, “Temperature, stagnation in sea conditions and excess amount of organic load are important for the formation of mucilage. Therefore, we conduct our inspections in existing wastewater treatment plants in order to prevent the increase in the amount of organic load. We also perform our analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus load in our vehicle.” said.
Stating that mobile tools were used in field inspections before mucilage, Akgün said, “We can measure more than 30 parameters on site. Thus, tools that allow us to reach analysis results in a very short time. We use our 3 mobile vehicles in the field, especially in our inspections on waste water pollution.” he said.
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