Helping Türkiye align local and European best practices

Technical Assistance for Assessment of Drinking Water Resources & Treatment

As Türkiye continues to prepare for ascension to the European Union (EU), they are aligning national laws, rules, and procedures with EU standards. This lead to a review of their current state of environmental governance, and the decision was made to more closely reflect their water sector practices with those outlined in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD).

To support this, our team played a key role as technical advisor to uncover efficient and sustainable options and alternatives for drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) investments. A team of drinking water experts visited 195 drinking water treatment plants across the country, where they gathered information, assessed current gaps and created feasibility reports that depicted the current situation. Best practice examples were then proposed that could be used to improve the water sector and policy.

Once the overview was made and agreed upon by community leaders, capacity building activities, such as start-up organization, seminars and workshops, awareness campaigns, and study tours abroad, were organized so that steps towards more secure drinking water treatment plants could be made.

Ultimately, this project has improved the water supplied to communities throughout Türkiye, and they have taken a step closer towards EU alignment.