ISTANBUL, Turkey -- The world's largest privately financed water-treatment works, built to supply Izmit, Turkey's most rapidly developing industrial area, and Istanbul, is scheduled to go on line early in 1999.
Situated at the eastern end of the Sea of Marmara, 78 miles from Istanbul, the project is financed by loans from Izmit Su AS. The $860 million project is a joint venture by Izmit Municipality, United Kingdom company Thames Water, Turkish contractors Gama Endustri and Guris Insaat, and Mitsui and Sumitomo of Japan. It is the first build, operate, and transfer water contract in Turkey.
A major partner in this ambitious enterprise is UK-based Paterson Candy Ltd (PCL). Thames Water will operate and maintain the project for 15 years following its construction and commissioning.
The massive project comprises a dam that is 354 feet high and 1300 feet wide. This clay-core earth-filled 6.8 million cubic yards dam is designed to impound 50,000 acre feet of water that will be delivered through a 3-mile long, 7 feet diameter steel main to a treatment works.
From here water will be conveyed via a series of pumping stations through steel and ductile iron pipes to Izmit and other areas on route to Istanbul.
"We are responsible for all the mechanical and electrical equipment for the water treatment plant, pumping stations, and pipeline with the exception of some locally fabricated pipework and structural steelwork which is being supplied by Guris," says PCL's project manager Peter Ingamells.
Raw water will come from the Yuvacik dam impounded from the Kirazdere springs, located in the mountains to the south of Izmit and fed by late rains in autumn and melting snow in spring.
Based on the treatment designs by Paterson Candy for similar water sources elsewhere in Turkey, the new works includes aeration to introduce oxygen; pre-chlorination to handle algae; coagulation to remove color, turbidity and suspended solids; post chlorination for final disinfection, and acidity/alkalinity (pH) correction.
Because the whole area is subject to periodic earthquakes and located close to a known fault line, particular care has been taken in the design of the dam, treatment works structures, and the associated pipelines to ensure that these will not suffer should a major seismic shock occur. The project is designed in accordance with Zone One international earthquake resistance standards.
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