The share of Istanbul in the pollution of the Marmara Sea is 72 percent, according to the head of the Mucilage Research Commission in the Turkish Parliament, as efforts to investigate the causes of the mucilage problem in Turkish seas and to determine measures to be taken continue.
Mustafa Demir, the chair of the commission, told a group of journalists about the work of the commission and the results it came to.
Demir stated that mucilage was a warning for the Marmara Sea, suggesting that the problem would disappear within two years if the proposals for a solution were taken into consideration.
“There are three main factors in the pollution of the Marmara Sea. Global warming, structural features of the sea and pollution,” Demir said, adding that the upper water level of the sea can regenerate within six months and the lower part in six years.
“If these problems are not prevented, the issue will grow. If we do not take measures, nothing positive can be said about the fate of the Marmara Sea,” he noted.
Mucilage is a jelly-like layer of slime that developed on the surface of the Marmara Sea this summer due to the excessive proliferation of microscopic plants called phytoplankton caused by untreated waste dumped in the partly-landlocked sea.
Stressing the issue of pollution which can be preventable, Demir stated that the main sources of the pollutants are urban wastewater, industrial wastes and inconvenient agricultural practices.
“Istanbul’s share in the pollution of the Sea of Marmara is 72 percent. It is not possible to solve this [pollution in the sea] without solving the problem in Istanbul. I’m telling you to save Marmara,” he noted.
Demir added that the problem in the Marmara Sea should be resolved with the help of cooperation.
Hurriyet Daily News