Principals of planning and realization of greater melen water supply project, Turkey

Abstract

The Greater Melen water supply Project (GMP) is a large-scale interbasin freshwater transfer project that provides domestic and industrial water requirements of Istanbul. Its foster resource is Melen River, lying in D zce Province, Black Sea region. In addition to water supply, hydroelectric power generation has been aimed through a hydroelectric power plant in order to benefit from the energy of the water raised behind Greater Melen Dam. The GMP consists of different components including (but not limited to), interbasin water governance, quality characteristics of transferred water, construction technology, and potential hydroelectric power generation, particularly in heavy rainfall seasons. In this paper, the main characterises of GMP is briefly reviewed and the principals of planning and realization of the project have been highlighted. In addition, technical features of the hydraulic structures that were constructed during different stages of the project have been summarized. The economic and social characteristics of the project have been discussed as well.