CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON WATER RESOURCES

Abstract: Increasing population and increasing demands threaten natural resources. The most important natural resource is water. Water is a resource that all biological diversity depends. Current activities adversely affect water resources that are exacerbated by increased impacts of climate change. Water use in Turkey for various purposes reaches 112 billion m3 in total from surface and groundwater resources. This much of water potential is allocated by four main sectors that include drinking water, industrial water, irrigation and ecosystem services. The main source of water potential is precipitation. Decreasing trend of precipitation for the entire country has been pointed in the projections. That means a decrease in the amount of gross water in many basins. Given these circumstances, water shortage is foreseen in the coming years that the amount of available water will not be able to meet the total water demand. Turkey is consisted of 25 hydrological basins; therefore, rainfall regime varies greatly even within a specific basin. Water scarcity risk plays an important socio-economic role in these basins. Water demand will increase by the population growth; therefore, water stress will increase gradually in these basins.