The Climate Reality Project -- Istanbul

What can change in a day? Everything. On September 14, the world will focus its attention on the truth about the climate crisis. For 24 hours, we will all live in reality. Pick a faraway place or a city near you. Make it yours for one day. We’re hitting every time zone — but only once. 7 p.m. in your time zone. Choose a location and get involved.

Istanbul --

How can a country with a water delivery system dating back to 117 A.D. suffer from a water shortage? It may sound crazy, but it’s a reality the city deals with every day. Famously renamed many times (think: Byzantium and Constantinople), this Turkish financial and cultural center was once the head of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. Istanbul was awarded such privilege because of its prime real estate (location, location, location!) on the Mediterranean Sea connecting Europe to the Middle East. The largest city in Turkey today, Istanbul is the only metropolis in the world that sits on two continents (Europe and Asia). As Istanbul’s population boomed, water became scarcer — setting the city up for trouble to come as Turkey gets warmer and drier because of climate change.

Climate change also threatens the water supply in the rest of Turkey. Current climate models project declines in rain and snow in western and southern Turkey later this century. And the mighty Tigris and Euphrates Rivers — critical for irrigation and energy projects across much of Turkey — are expected to deliver less and less water as the climate changes.