A Water Justice Based Evaluation of Inter-Basin Water Transfers (IBWTs) in Turkey: a Comparative Study of the Great Melen and Konya Plain Projects

In response to its EU accession agenda, Turkey has implemented EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requirements for river basin management planning by creating 25 river basin districts (RBDs). The preparation of River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) for each RBD is scheduled for completion in 2023. Moreover, a number of national implementing regulations have been enacted, which include by-laws on the Protection of Water Basins Used for Drinking and Utility Water, the Monitoring of Surface Waters and Groundwaters, Water Pollution Control, Urban Waste Water Treatment and the Protection of Groundwaters against Pollution and Deterioration. While institutional reorganisation of water management at the river basin scale could lead to greater protection for water resources, rescaling conversely has the potential to initiate conflicts through inter-basin transfers. Some Turkish river basins lack the capacity to meet competing demands for water resources from agriculture, industry, hydroelectric power generation and household supply. Capacity deficits are particularly acute in urbanised river basins such as Istanbul. Water transfer projects have consequently been developed to support water transfer to Istanbul from adjacent river basins. However, they could initiate conflicts over water resources and result in welfare losses for impacted groups. For example, the Melen River is significant to local people for supporting agricultural activities, tourism and fisheries but it is also an increasingly crucial resource for supplying drinking water to Istanbul. The inequalities caused by inter-basin water transfers therefore raise significant concerns regarding participation, power and social injustice, Drawing upon a theoretical approach to water justice (for example, Boelens, 2015; Boelens and Perreault, 2018), which encompasses notions of power relations, access to water, fairness, equity and water rights, the paper first constructs a framework for evaluating this concept in the Turkish context. It then applies this theoretical framework to two contentious case studies of inter-basin water transfers: the Great Melen and Konya Plain projects. The study utilises official documentary data and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders at the river basin level. Preliminary results suggest that both projects may significantly impact the capabilities of local communities to support themselves and also their participation in decision-making within water governance. Such an analysis therefore allows an evaluation of water justice in these cases and also provides some guidance for ensuring future policy on inter-basin transfers incorporates justice in river basin decision-making. The scope for utilising water justice to examine other emergent inter-basin and transboundary river basin conflicts in Turkey is also discussed.