Akşehir Lake, dried up by drought, reaches 1.5 meters deep

Akşehir Lake, straddling the provinces of Konya and Afyonkarahisar, is showing signs of revival after years of severe drought and unsustainable agricultural practices nearly erased it from the map. This year's abundant rainfall has replenished the lake, bringing its water level to 1.5 meters and restoring one-third of its original surface area.

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This year, Akşehir received the best rainfall in the last 30 years, and because of this, the lake has started to retain water again.

Cevat Nuri Bozoğlu, Deputy Mayor of Akşehir, described the current rainfall as the best in the last 30 years, attributing the lake's recovery to these conditions. He recalled that in the late 1960s, the lake's surface area reached 350 square kilometers, supporting fishing and local livelihoods. However, prolonged droughts and the construction of dams and barriers on feeder streams led to its gradual drying up since the late 1990s.

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The lake's bottom has a flat terrain, so it evaporates quickly and the water recedes again.

Bozoğlu emphasized that while the current water level is encouraging, it is only sustainable for about a year due to the lake's flat basin and rapid evaporation. He urged state authorities to intervene by deepening the lakebed, creating a basin to retain water more effectively and minimize evaporation. This, he believes, is crucial for the lake's long-term survival and its role in the region.

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The state needs to make the lakebed into a basin. The lake needs to be protected. The continuous flow of streams needs to be ensured. The state has a big job to do here, and the peat at the bottom needs to be removed and deepened so that water forms a lake and evaporation is reduced.

The recovery of Akşehir Lake is seen as vital for the local microclimate and agriculture. Farmers like Zekeriya Gök from Gölçayır Mahallesi shared historical accounts of the lake's cycles of drying and refilling, noting its significant benefit to the Akşehir cherry harvest and the temperate climate it created for crops like barley and wheat in nearby villages. The return of the water is being celebrated as a return to a "paradise."

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Our paradise has returned, our waters have come.