Turkey’s water emergency deepens as Konya sinkholes surge and Istanbul reservoirs hit 64-year low
A widening water crisis is simultaneously collapsing farmland in Central Anatolia and draining reservoirs around the country’s largest city, underscoring why turkey faces immediate water-security challenges. In Konya, exploding sinkholes have become a recurring threat to farms and homes, even as Istanbul heads into summer with dam levels at their lowest in 64 years.
Konya sinkholes
Farmers in Konya are witnessing abrupt land collapse as falling groundwater, prolonged heat and intensive irrigation combine to hollow out the subsurface. Geology professor Fetullah Arik says the region now hosts almost 700 sinkholes; one recent collapse that blew water and mud tens of metres into the air measured roughly 50 metres across and 40 metres deep. The loss of groundwater support beneath soluble limestone and other rocks is the immediate cause: as water tables fall, underground cavities no longer hold, and the surface gives way.
Local practices have amplified the hazard. With rainfall dwindling, farmers are drilling more and deeper wells to irrigate crops, further depleting aquifers. Over decades the landscape has transformed: local reports document that 186 of the region’s 240 lakes have disappeared in the past 60 years, a stark indicator of long-term drying that feeds both water scarcity and ground instability. One Konya farmer described living in constant fear after a neighbouring house collapsed into a sinkhole; scientists have warned some areas may no longer be livable.
Istanbul reservoir levels and Turkey’s summer risk
At the same time, Istanbul’s water supply is under pressure. Reservoir measurements and hydrological analyses show 2025 produced the lowest average rainfall for the Marmara region in 64 years, leaving dam levels critically low ahead of the dry season. The population of the metropolitan area — nearly 16 million people — faces the direct consequences as officials and experts flag the potential for severe shortages this summer.
Hydrology specialist Prof. Dr. Lokman Hakan Tecer highlights not only the volume shortfall but the changing character of precipitation. Much of the recent rainfall has fallen as intense cloudbursts rather than steady, soaking events; when heavy rains arrive too quickly, they generate surface runoff that flows into streams and out to sea rather than recharging reservoirs or seeping into groundwater. The General Directorate of Meteorology reports overall precipitation in 2025 was 27. 6% below long-term averages, and specialists warn that evaporation losses this summer could reach 20% to 25% because of high temperatures and the lack of slow-melting snowpack.
What makes this notable is that short, intense storms — often viewed as relief — can worsen water stress by failing to refill the systems that sustain cities and agriculture. Tecer has urged a shift from individual conservation to structural changes such as rain-harvesting and grey-water reuse, particularly in large housing complexes, saying behavioral measures alone will not be enough if stormwater continues to run off rather than be captured.
The link between the two crises is direct: depleted groundwater and surface reservoirs are mutually reinforcing. In Konya, intensive irrigation and falling aquifers accelerate sinkhole formation; around Istanbul, inadequate reservoir recharge combined with high evaporation leaves urban water systems vulnerable to summer heat. Together they illustrate how hydrological change — less total rainfall, more extreme heat and altered rainfall patterns — translates into tangible risks for food production, property and municipal supply.
Authorities and experts are urging immediate policy and infrastructure responses, including restricting extractive irrigation where feasible, expanding rain-capture systems, and prioritizing long-term groundwater and reservoir recharge strategies. Absent accelerated reforms and significant, well-timed precipitation, the country faces a season in which both agricultural livelihoods and urban water security will be tightly constrained.
Farmers and city residents alike are already adjusting practices under duress: in Konya many have scaled back groundwater irrigation, while in the Marmara region planners are debating rapid deployment of harvesting systems. But with recent years showing a clear drop in baseline precipitation and dramatic hydrological change on the ground, the strain on supply is likely to persist unless measures to retain and replenish water are implemented at scale.
