Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has completed its preparations to implement the modified clay application in line with the roadmap drawn at the Gulf Workshop. Experiments conducted for the application planned to be diluted in water and penetrated into areas where algae are dense yielded positive results. Laboratory results revealed that the success rate in algae sedimentation reached 80 percent after the application and that it did not harm marine life at all.
Emergency Action Plan Continues
The Izmir Metropolitan Municipality continues its work uninterruptedly within the scope of the emergency action plan it has determined for the cleaning of Izmir Bay. Having put the fourth phase of the Çiğli Advanced Biological Wastewater Treatment Plant into service and carrying out the most comprehensive bottom dredging work in the city's history, the Metropolitan Municipality will implement a new application in line with the suggestions of scientists.
Dr. Işıkhan Güler, İZSU General Directorate Gulf Ecology Advisory Board Member, said, “İZSU wrote to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to obtain the necessary permits. If the ministry approves, we will have minimized the fish deaths that may occur this year.”
International Collaborations and Scientific Support
Before the workshop titled “The Future of the Gulf, the Future of Izmir” held last November, support was requested from international organizations such as UNESCO and EPA. Meetings were held with the Harmful Algal Bloom Unit of the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commission. Following UNESCO’s suggestion, a Goodwill Agreement was signed with the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), which conveyed the modified clay application within the scope of the workshop. In addition, after the report was presented to Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Leberecht, Head of the Department of Water Quality Control at the University of Berlin, it was agreed that the best application would be clay. It was decided to apply the “modified clay” method at certain points in the Gulf as an emergency solution to fish deaths caused by algal blooms.
Satellite Tracking and Successful Experiment Results
Metropolitan teams, who regularly identify problem areas in Izmir Bay with satellite images, have achieved positive results by applying this method in pilot regions. It has been revealed that the points imaged before the clay application with satellite images showed improvement after the clay application. It has been determined that the modified clay application is quite effective in Izmir Bay, which has been imaged with the help of the satellite tracking system since April.
Satellite system images of the Gulf of Izmir taken at different times on the same day clearly revealed the difference before and after the application. Laboratory results also scientifically proved that the success rate in algae settling reached 80 percent after the application and that the application did not harm any marine life.
Expert Opinions and Next Steps
Dr. Işıkhan Güler stated that a serious process was experienced in the Gulf's Future, Izmir's Future Workshop and that they started to implement the results of this workshop. Güler said, “There are several methods applied in the world to minimize fish deaths. One of them is the application of modified clay. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is conducting a multi-faceted study in the Gulf.”
Güler explained that the modified clay application is not applied directly to the sea, but is diluted in water and penetrated into the algae area. Laboratory experiments and pilot area applications showed that the clay method has a positive effect on the Gulf. İZSU stated that they have written to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to obtain the necessary permits and that fish deaths will be minimized if approval is received.
Güler also uses another method of struggle, ultrasonic sound application He stated that they are also working on it. “Modified Clay Application is not an application that shows results in the long term. You can think of this situation as a fire intervention. It has emerged as a method that we can do urgently and that does not negatively affect the environment and living things,” he said.
What is Modified Clay Application?
Modified clay application is among the methods used against harmful algal blooms. In the application, modified clay is diluted with water and poured into the sea to reduce the effects of algae. Unlike normal clay application, the amount of clay used with modified clay is reduced; 1 kg of modified clay is mixed for 23,2 ton of water and applied. This method is the most widely used method in China and is also used successfully in countries such as the United States and Chile. Both laboratory and field results show that modified clay can significantly improve water quality and does not have a negative impact on marine ecosystems.
