Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı has announced a major action plan to combat water loss in Burdur Lake, with investments totaling nearly 6 billion Turkish Liras ($140 million) over the next five years.
The initiative aims to restore around 50 million cubic meters of water to the lake's basin each year.
Speaking at a press briefing on the shores of Burdur Lake, Yumaklı warned that climate change has pushed away many of Türkiye’s lakes toward severe decline, noting that temperatures have remained above seasonal norms for the past 25 years, while declining rainfall has intensified drought conditions.
“Rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation have directly affected our lakes,” he said.
Yumaklı recalled that the National Water Council has decided to prepare lake-specific action plans, resulting in strategies for nine major lakes, including Eğirdir, Beyşehir, Akşehir, Burdur, İznik and Sapanca.
After launching the plan for Eğirdir Lake earlier this year, Burdur has now become the second focus.
Both a Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance and a first-degree natural protected site in Türkiye, Yumaklı described Burdur Lake as ecologically critical. “It hosts numerous bird species, some endangered and others that have made this area their permanent habitat,” he said.
The minister noted that Burdur Lake, Türkiye’s seventh-largest lake, lies within a closed basin, making it vulnerable to evaporation. Long-term data show average annual rainfall in the basin once stood at 484 millimeters, but fell below that level in eight of the past ten years, dropping to just 304 millimeters in the first 11 months of this year.
Average temperatures in the basin have risen from 12.4 degrees Celsius between 1980 and 2000 to 14.2 degrees Celsius today.
According to Yumaklı, the lake’s water level has fallen by 21 meters since 1970, from 857 meters to 836 meters, while its surface area has shrunk by more than half.
“The lake is losing an average of 179 million cubic meters of water annually, 78 percent of which is due to evaporation,” he said, adding that inflows currently total only 112 million cubic meters per year.
The action plan will be implemented under three main pillars and 35 submeasures, focusing on integrated ecosystem-based water management, efficient water use and protection of natural resources.
Measures include modernizing irrigation systems, developing alternative water sources, strengthening monitoring and water quality controls and reducing dust pollution through nature-based solutions.
Yumaklı also announced that legislative work on a national Water law is nearing completion, which will mandate modern, pressurized irrigation systems and phase out inefficient flood irrigation nationwide.
