2. Human Impacts to Rivers
• Human beings have an impact on
river ecosystems. The relationship living
organisms have with each other and with
their environment is extremely complex.
Impacts on a species or a non-
living element may have long-term
consequences for a river ecosystem.
• Pollution: Pollution is difficult
to control because it is often the result of
human infrastructure around a river.
Pollution enters the river, sometimes in small
amounts, at many different locations along
the length of the river. Common sources of
pollution come from rural and urban areas.
3. • Flow modifications: Dams alter the
flow, temperature and sediment in river
systems. Reduced flow
alters aquatic habitats – reducing or
removing populations of
fish, invertebrates and plants that
depend on the flow to bring food.
Reduced flow also
decreases tributary stream flow,
changing habitats and altering the
water table in the stream aquifer.
Consequently, riverside vegetation may
be affected and decline in numbers.
This may affect animal biodiversity, for
example, bird species may leave the
area if their habitat is lost or altered
4. • Exotic species: Exotic species have been
introduced to river systems sometimes
intentionally (for example, for fishing
purposes or as food for other species) and
sometimes unintentionally (for example,
species come in on the bottom of boats or on
fishing gear or they escape from pond areas
during flooding, such as koi carp).
• Harvesting:Excessive fishing in river
ecosystems can drastically reduce numbers of
species. For example, numbers of eels and
whitebait in the Waikato River have reduced
since the 1970s. Commercial eeling began in
the 1960s and peaked in the 1970s with an
annual average catch of 2000 tonnes. In the
early 1980s, 400–450 tonnes per annum were
harvested, with less than 200 tonnes per
annum harvested since 2000.
5. • I think, as Turkey is not a water-rich
country. On the contrary, it is a
candidate country for water problems in
the near future unless the necessary
measures are taken. The main reasons
for this are the inability to control the
resources due to irregularities in the
topography, uneven distribution of
precipitation and resources by regions,
and attempts to make water resources
available to regional, independent and
short-term projects instead of long-term
planning by holistic watershed-based
approaches.
7. Factors Affecting the River Pollution in Turkey
• 1. Industrialization,
• 2. Urbanization,
• 3. Population growth,
• 4. It can be grouped as
pesticides and chemical
fertilizers.
Tigris River
9. Damages to the environment by
dams can be listed as follows in
Turkey:
• The diversity of plants and animals in the
region where water is collected is being
destroyed. Agricultural areas, forest areas, all
kinds of historical and cultural assets in this
region are being flooded. The climate of the
region is changing and the climate is
temperate. Significant moisture is beginning to
appear. This leads to changes in plant and
animal diversity. The temperature of the water
is changing. Due to the water attitude, the
ecosystem of the river is deteriorating. The
reduction in the amount of water released
downstream differentiates the ecosystem
downstream of the river. Everything is
deteriorating, including soil structure,
vegetation, animal presence and bacterial
system. The deltas of the river disappear.
Salting is taking place in the soil and it is not
possible to regain the salted soil to agriculture.
Since dams store a huge body of water, they
create a stress on the earth's crust, which can
cause the region to become seismically active
when it exceeds a certain value.
10. • It destroys the natural habitat of fish, prevents transitions in
the river, and in particular leads to a reduction in the
number of migratory fish species and even extinction.
During the floods, inorganic mercury in the soil and rocks
mix with the water and accumulate at the bottom of the
lake and at the end of the methylation process it becomes
an organic methylsilva. Methylcera is a poisonous substance
and serious health problems occur in people who eat fish
that have taken it. Dams are a suitable breeding ground for
flies and pave the way for the spread of diseases such as
malaria. In addition, large surface area and shallow dam
lakes emit significant amounts of greenhouse gas (mostly
methane) to the atmosphere as a result of decay of living
mass. This phenomenon, known as greenhouse gas
contamination, leads to global warming.
11. Important Dams in
Turkey
• 1. Keban Barajı / ELAZIĞ: On the Euphrates River, for
energy purposes, It built in 1975.
• 2. Ermenek Barajı/KARAMAN: On the Göksu River, for
energy purposes, It built in 2009.
• 3. Deriner Barajı/ARTVİN: On the Coruh River, for
energy purposes, It built in 2009.
• 4. Berke Barajı/ADANA: On the Ceyhan River, for
energy purposes, It built in 1999
• 5. Altınkaya Barajı / SAMSUN: On the Kızılırmak River,
for energy purposes, It built in 1988.
12. • 6. Oymapınar Barajı / ANTALYA: On the Manavgat River, for energy
purposes, It built in 1984.
• 7. Hasanuğurlu Barajı / SAMSUN: On the Yeşilırmak River, for energy
purposes, It built in 1981.
• 8. Karakaya Barajı / DİYARBAKIR: On the Euphrates River, for energy
purposes, It built in 1987.
• 9. Atatürk Barajı / ŞANLIURFA: On the Euphrates River, for energy
purposes, It built in 1992.
• 10. Kığı Barajı /BİNGÖL: On the Euphrates River, for energy purposes, It
built in 2003.
•
13. Deriner Dam is tallest dam in Turkey. The Dam built in 2012.
14. Refecenses
• DSİ. (1982). Keban Baraj Gölü limnolojik etüd
raporu. Ankara
• DSİ (1983). Sapanca Gölü. Ankara.
• DSİ. (1984) Türkiye'de barajlar ve hidroelektrik
santrallar. Ankara.
• ODTÜ (1995). Gölbaşı Mogan-Eymir gölleri
için su kaynakları ve çevre yönetimi planı
projesi. Kesin Rapor I-II.
• TÇV. (1995). Türkiye'nin çevre sorunları.
Ankara.
• Topkaya,B. (1992). Keban Barajı
ötrofikasyonu deşarj sınır konsantrasyonlarının
tespiti. Fünaf 14. Elazığ.
