Dursun Yıldız
Civil Engineer, Water Policy Expert
President of the Hydropolitics Association
October 23, 2026
The primary challenge for sustainable water management in Turkey is a structure characterized by fragmentation, a multiplicity of governing bodies, and a lack of coordination. Seven ministries are directly involved and hold authority over water management, while four others are indirectly involved. The National Water Council consists of one minister, 11 deputy ministers, and the heads of five institutions.
The fundamental issue with water management in Türkiye is not merely the high number of institutions; more significant is the fact that authority and responsibilities are dispersed across various entities, creating a critical need for effective inter-institutional coordination.
The primary cause of irrigation inefficiency in Turkey stems from the slow transition to modern irrigation systems, as well as the structural challenges faced by water user associations and irrigation cooperatives, which prevent them from playing an adequate role in participatory water management.
National Water Plan
The National Water Plan serves as the roadmap for water management in Turkey. The National Water Plan (2026–2035), which entered into force on March 14, 2026, comprises 8 main objectives, 31 strategies, and 141 actions. It is envisioned that only 13% of these actions will be implemented during the 2026–2028 period, while 75% are slated for the 2030–2035 period.
However, a comparison between the objectives of the new plan and existing, long-standing practices reveals certain structural inconsistencies—most notably regarding the alignment of agricultural and urban planning with water availability. Continuing agricultural production patterns and urban development without adequately accounting for the potential of water resources may conflict with water efficiency goals. Furthermore, the continued reliance on “supply management” rather than “demand management” in water governance poses a significant risk to climate change adaptation efforts.
Conversely, initiatives such as investments in modern irrigation, the “Water Efficiency Mobilization” campaign, basin-level planning, and efforts to reduce water losses represent positive steps that align with the objectives of the National Water Plan.
It is difficult to claim that sufficient coherence has yet been achieved between the strategic goals of water management in Türkiye and actual practices on the ground. The challenge lies not merely in drafting new plans, but in strengthening the institutional capacity, oversight, financing, and accountability required to ensure that existing plans are implemented effectively at the basin scale and in harmony with other relevant planning frameworks.
Transition to Modern Irrigation Systems and Its Contribution to Water Efficiency
In Turkey, even though 50% of the cost of modern irrigation systems is covered by grants, a lack of financing remains a significant barrier to their adoption. However, financial constraints are not the only obstacle. The core issue lies in the failure to adequately integrate the modernization of agricultural irrigation infrastructure with agricultural production policies and the economic realities faced by farmers.
The World Bank’s Turkey Irrigation Modernization Project addresses this by incorporating land consolidation, the strengthening of irrigation associations, and capacity building for farmers, alongside infrastructure investments.
Modern irrigation is more than just installing sprinkler or drip irrigation systems in fields; it represents a shift toward a new agricultural water management model—one where water usage is measured, allocations are monitored, cropping patterns are aligned with available water potential, and farmers receive economic support. This requires an integrated approach to irrigation management.
In short, the primary barrier to adopting modern irrigation in Türkiye is that issues related to financing, energy, land structure, and institutional capacity are often addressed in isolation rather than as an interconnected whole.
Transitioning to modern irrigation systems is crucial for enhancing water efficiency. The technical water savings provided by the systems themselves are not enough; the real impact is realized when water meters are installed and users are charged based on the volume of water consumed (per cubic meter). Studies indicate that, relative to the Turkish national average, transitioning to closed irrigation systems yields water savings of approximately 26%, while closed systems that incorporate volumetric pricing achieve savings of around 38%. However, there is a hydrological issue here that is often overlooked. While modern irrigation systems can reduce the amount of water applied to a field, if a farmer uses these savings to expand the irrigated area or switches to more water-intensive crops, the total water consumption within the basin may not decrease.
This phenomenon is known as the “rebound effect.” Furthermore, in traditional irrigation, a portion of the water that seeps from the field can recharge groundwater or be reused.
Therefore, an increase in water application efficiency at the field level does not necessarily translate into an equivalent net water saving at the basin scale. Consequently, the true indicator of success should not be irrigation efficiency alone, but rather the reduction of net water consumption and water withdrawals at the basin scale.
Agricultural water use in Türkiye
According to 2024 data from the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ), Türkiye’s total annual water consumption is 61.7 billion m³, of which 48.7 billion m³ is used for agricultural irrigation.
According to DSİ, modern, pressurized, piped irrigation networks in Türkiye reached 38% in 2025. While DSİ has made progress in modern irrigation investments, 62% of existing networks have yet to be converted to closed-pipe systems, highlighting a significant need for modernization.
Furthermore, transitioning to a pressurized, piped network does not automatically mean farmers have adopted drip or sprinkler irrigation in their fields. For these reasons, irrigation efficiency in Türkiye—defined as the ratio of water delivered to the field that actually reaches the plant root zone—remains too low; the average is reported at 51%. In this context, DSİ-managed irrigation facilities are estimated to lose about 24 billion m³ per year, based on technical efficiency calculations for these systems. Because DSİ’s efficiency data primarily cover its own irrigation facilities, this figure does not represent a verified national estimate of water loss across all agricultural irrigation systems in Türkiye.
However, not all of this volume constitutes water loss that cannot be recovered. To determine the true potential for water savings, it is necessary to measure water budgets, return flows, and actual crop water consumption at the basin scale. The institutional structure of the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) is sufficient to effectively monitor water use across regions. However, to do this more reliably—both at the basin scale and at the sectoral level—the structural issues facing irrigation unions and irrigation cooperatives must be resolved, and coordination with the DSİ must be strengthened.
Groundwater Use
In our country, unauthorized groundwater use and extraction beyond allocated amounts pose a significant problem. However, the latest draft of the Water Law—whose preparation is nearing completion—includes provisions for radical measures to protect groundwater. Once this draft is enacted into law, it will protect our groundwater resources more effectively. This is particularly urgent, given that approximately 90% of the “safe operational reserves” of groundwater have already been allocated.
Based on the general status of groundwater bodies, the Konya Closed Basin, the Meriç Basin, the Büyük Menderes and Küçük Menderes Basins, the Gediz Basin, and the Akarçay and Burdur Basins are most threatened.
The groundwater issue in Türkiye is not merely a matter of drought. In some basins, a structural water budget deficit exists because water demand and allocations exceed the natural recharge capacity. Consequently, the protection of groundwater reserves must be a fundamental determinant in agricultural production policies.
Conclusion and Assessment
The future of agricultural irrigation in Turkey depends less on developing additional water sources and more on a radical shift in management—re-evaluating how, where, to what extent, and for what purpose existing water resources are utilized. The core problem today lies not only in the limited nature of water resources but also in the misalignment between water potential and agricultural production policies, as well as the institutional fragmentation within irrigation management.
Transitioning to modern irrigation systems is essential; however, simply changing irrigation technology—without measuring water use, monitoring consumption, and aligning crop patterns with each basin’s water budget—will not resolve the water crisis. This is because technical water savings achieved at the field level do not always translate into actual water savings at the basin scale.
Türkiye must now shift from an approach centered on “supply management” to a “demand management” model—one that considers water quantity, economic value, and ecological limits. This transformation cannot be achieved solely through infrastructure investments by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ); it requires strengthening irrigation associations, supporting farmers, effectively overseeing water allocations, and restructuring agricultural production policies.
Effective irrigation management reform in Türkiye depends on aligning water demand with the sustainable water-use potential of river basins.
Therefore, the success of the 2026–2035 National Water Plan should be measured not by the scale of planned investments, but by the extent to which a structural transformation in water management is achieved.
The primary objective should no longer be to produce more by using more water; rather, it should be to generate greater economic and social value using less water, without exhausting the water budgets of the basins. This shift in perspective is the key to ensuring agricultural water security in Türkiye.
