Environment

In recent years, the decline and depletion of clean water resources due to climate change, increasing urbanization and population growth has become a burning issue and a discussed topic internationally. The fact that global water consumption has quintupled in the 21st century and this consumption is expected to increase by another 30% by 2025 also reveals the importance of this issue. It is crucial for our country to lay stress on issues such as increased demand for water as a result of population growth, rapid urbanization and industrialization activities, efficient use and conservation of water resources based on this demand, ensuring water saving, improving water quality, improvement of irrigation methods, recycling wastewater and using it in agriculture and industry.

R&D and innovation studies will play a strategic role in creating solutions to these problems and will ensure the creation of tools for this need. According to the studies of the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ), although there is a total of 234 billion m3 of usable water supply in our country, 112 billion m3 of this amount can be used due to economic and technical reasons. DSİ also predicts that the water consumption in our country will be about 112 billion m3 in 2030. Based on these data and estimates, it is extremely necessary to conduct R&D and innovation studies for both the supply of water resources and the decontamination of used water. It’s also seen in national policy and strategy documents that the field of water, which was identified as one of the “needs-oriented issues we need to gain momentum” at the 21st meeting of the Supreme Council for Science and Technology, is an important field.

For this purpose, research is carried out on the applications of microalgae in advanced domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewater treatment within the scope of Project INDEPENDENT.

In order to achieve water quality goals in İstanbul, which has a limited amount of water resources on a local basis, continuous measurement and monitoring of pollution indicators in general, use of advanced treatment technologies before the discharge of waste water by controlling it at the source, ensuring resource control to reduce the negative effects of radiated discharges on the environment and human health, it is necessary to develop technologies based on chemical and/or biochemical processes to eliminate existing contamination. For this purpose, research on the use of microalgae in advanced treatment of domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewater is carried out within the scope of Project INDEPENDENT.