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Izmir, one of Türkiye’s largest coastal cities, has been facing planned overnight water cuts since early August, and according to leading climate experts, the city may not see relief even next year. Professor Dogan Yasar of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA), a member of its Environment, Biodiversity and Climate Change Working Group, who spoke to Turkish media, said the shortages could extend into 2026, even if rainfall increases in the coming months.
Planned water cuts began on Aug. 6 2025 and were later extended until the end of November by the Izmir Water and Sewerage Administration (IZSU). The extension came as reservoir levels dropped further, prompting renewed concern over long-term supply.
Prof. Yasar said the Tahtali Dam, one of the city’s main water sources, had fallen to a very low level. He noted that even strong rainfall would raise storage only modestly and stressed that groundwater had become the city’s fallback source, drawn from depths of 300 to 400 metres. Groundwater, he explained, is typically kept in reserve for dry years, and relying heavily on it places the city in a more vulnerable position.
The professor recalled that Izmir experiences a severe drought roughly every 15 to 20 years, pointing to earlier dry periods in the early 1970s, 1992, and 2007–2008. He said experts had repeatedly warned that a new dry cycle would follow 2020 and called for long-term planning before the city reached this point.
According to his assessment, Izmir had been drawing a large share of its supply from groundwater even when reservoirs were full, which he described as a major strategic error that now requires far more energy to extract deep water.
Under the planned restriction programme, water service is interrupted between 23:00 and 05:00. Prof. Yasar underlined that the measure brings meaningful savings, adding that some residents initially questioned the benefit of night-time cuts but that the policy had helped reduce daily consumption by tens of thousands of cubic metres.
With the dry cycle still ongoing and key reservoirs struggling to recover, experts see little certainty that Izmir will overcome the shortages in 2026. The city’s dependence on deep groundwater and its limited recharge capacity continue to shape the risk outlook for the coming year.
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