Water passes through excellence!
ATAKÖY WATER TREATMENT PLANT, TURKEY
The Ataköy neighbourhood is in the European part of Istanbul. Commissioned by the Menderes government, it was built in the 1950s in the suburban military distrcit of Baruthane; the name literally means 'gunpowder depot'. Built as a satellite city for the middle class, today, Ataköy is a residential district with various sports complexes (including that of the professional basketball team Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü) and a port with large luxury yachts. Near Atatürk Airport, it has about 48,000 residents but boasts a wastewater treatment plant that serves up to 3 million people: 20% of the population of Istanbul (over 15 million in total). The Ataköy Wastewater Treatment Plant is a feat of engineering excellence covering 300,000 square metres. The plant was commissioned in 2010. It was adapted and expanded from 2016 to 2019, reaching a treatment capacity equal to 10% of the daily 5.8 million cubic metres handled in plants across the country.
The pride of the plant is the new section, which allows for the treatment of 240,000 m³/g, of which 20,000 m³/g is treated with modern liquid filtering technology through special microporous membranes, which produces water quality suitable for reuse to clean roads and irrigate fields, something impossible with traditional sedimentation techniques. It is a considerable boon for the environment, meeting the increased demand for water due to the demographic boom and the rapid industrialisation process underway in Turkey, which in 2030 could join the list of countries suffering from water scarcity.
THE WORK AND THE TECNIQUE
M² TOTAL AREA
M³/D MBR PLANT CAPACITY
M³/D PRELIMINARY TREATMENT UNIT
M³/D BIOLOGICAL STAGE
M³/D WASTEWATER TREATED WITH BIOLOGICAL STAGE
M³/D WATER REUSE SECTION
Instabul Su ve Kanalyzasyon Idaresi (ISKI)
Consorzio Fisia Alkatas, led by Fisia Italimpianti (Webuild Group); local partner Alkatas Inşaat ve Taahhüt (with 50% shares each).
The work at the Ataköy water purification plant sought to adapt it to treat the wastewater from some of the area's urban districts using advanced biological methods, with the subsequent discharge of the purified water into the sea, making it a renewed resource for the environment. Wastewater treatment uses various processes ranging from rock traps to aerated degreasing to clarification and disinfection.
CULTURAL INSIGHTS
Relentless Demand for Water
The Ataköy water treatment plant contributes to addressing one of the major challenges faced by Turkey's largest metropolis., where demand for water is constantly increasing due both to the demographic boom and the speed and intensity of urbanisation and industrialisation.
Besides the ability to extract, produce and distribute drinking water, the problem of managing water resources is due to the increased demographic pressure. The country's population grew substantially in the second half of the last century.
This growth continued in the first two decades of the 21st century. While in 1961, the population was less than 30 million, in 2024 it reached 87,67 milion and continues to grow apace.
This increase slashed the country's per capita freshwater reserves, which fell from 7,500 m3 in 1962 to 1,350 m3 in 2023. The massive use of reserves has increased extractions, which in the last 30 years have grown from 23.47% to 45.71%, compared to the total reserves available.
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