Analysis of pollutant concentrations in effluent-dominated and effluent-dependent surface waters: The case of Ergene River Basin

In recent years, increasing drought, population growth, rapid industrialization and rapid concreting have caused various impacts and pressures on surface and ground waters. In the Ergene Basin, where these adversities are observed intensively, the assessment of surface water quality is becoming more and more important day by day. Within the scope of the European Union Water Framework Directive, the first implementations of River Basin Management Plans, which are planned to be realized in all river basins in our country, were realized in the basin. In this study, the quality of surface water samples taken from 10 different selected points in the Ergene Basin was evaluated and the quality of these sources, which were classified as discharge-dominated and discharge-dependent, was compared with the clean sources taken as reference. The assessment of water quality was carried out in accordance with the Regulation on Surface Water Quality, which is based on the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The classification approach applied in the USA was used to classify water bodies as discharge-dominated and discharge-dependent. Flow rates measured in the past by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) and the Electrical Power Resources Survey Administration were used to classify water bodies in this way. After determining the quality classes of the water bodies, the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) approach applied in the USA was used to improve the quality of the water bodies with poor quality classes and the improvement percentages required to increase the quality classes were determined on the basis of water body and pollutant parameter.