Discussion of the physical, climatological and hydrological characteristics underlying water management in Turkey, organized around 25 major river basins around the country. Water management in Turkey is complex and diverse in that it has to deal with flood- and drought-prone regions simultaneously. With increasing concern for environmental change and their impact on hydrology, Turkey’s water resources are becoming more fragile in meeting the demand for water in different sectors of the economy, such as for drinking water, agriculture, industry, tourism, ecosystems etc.
To address these issues new concepts of drought quantification and management are being used by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to underpin new management plans at the basin-scale. Within this backdrop, large scale water resources development projects are also being launched. Increasingly, this is an issue that brings the society-linked hydrology to the forefront.
