Properties of drinking water resources and evaluation of water pollution in Ankara ASKİ

Ankara, is the second largest city in Turkey, with a population of over 3.5million inhabitants. Clean water demands of the city are growing in parallelwith the rapid increase of its population. Clean water resources of Ankarahowever, are not adequately preserved, due to negative impacts of rapidindustrialization and casual urbanization.ASKI provides drinking water for Ankara. The contamination of this watersupply is a current problem which depends on a number of complex variables.The solution requires an integrated approach, taking all economic, social andtechnological parameters into consideration. Up to 95% of the drinking waterdemands are supplied from existing dams near Ankara. In order to meet therequirements, remote water reservoirs are also utilized. This study providesinformation about drinking water characteristics together with references towater standards applicable worldwide. In particular, the water resources ofASKI have been examined and evaluated from a contamination point of view.Additonally an evaluation of ASKI water treatment plant has been provided.The main approach in this situation should be preventing the pollution, notrefining. The Project of drinking water refinery was constructed and figuredout the financial aspects of cost price of refinery on paper.As a result, the measurement values of raw water which was refined in therefinery didn?t pass the maximum values which were accepted for TS 266.Quality parameters which were designated according to the drinking waterstandards of WHO, EPA and EC weren?t analyzed in ASKI laboratories. Thissituation makes difficult to bring to a definite conclusion about the waterquality that departs from the refinery. Therefore, in a very short time TS 266should be brought to the same rank by international standards of drinkingwater and improved. Water analyzes that were done in ASKI laboratoriesshouldn?t be limited only with water quality parameters of TS 266. But alsoparameters of drinking water standards of WHO,EPA and EC should becontrolled.Science Code : 912Key Words : Ankara, ASKI, drinking water, source, purification, waterpollutionPage Number : 116Adviser : Prof. Dr. Belgin Cakmak