Bursa’s bottled-water plants draw 4.4m m3 a year; dams hit 0.54% in 2025
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Turkish provinces lease spring flows and lake water to bottled-water companies, and villagers in Gözede, Bursa, say their irrigation water was given to a factory. The sources reviewed record volumes and tariffs, but do not show what share of Bursa’s water supply bottling takes.
- Bottled-water companies (unnamed in the sources reviewed) — Draw water from Lake Sapanca and Bursa sources for bottling İstiklal (SASKİ)
- Villagers in Gözede, Bursa — Irrigation water, according to the villagers’ account Habertürk
What happened
Istiklal reported on 4 September 2025 that factories draw about 3.9 million cubic metres a year from Lake Sapanca, equal to Sakarya’s 20-day need, and pay six times the normal tariff.
Bolu leased 62.5%, 50% and 6% of the flow in its 2025 tenders, according to Bolu Gündem.
Habertürk reported in 2024 that villagers in Gözede said their irrigation water had been given to a factory and their crops had dried; Bursa Haber reported the metropolitan municipality’s reply that the factory has a separate supply.
DHA reported that Bursa’s 14 bottled-water plants draw about 4.4 million cubic metres a year, and Medyascope reported in October 2025 that dam levels had fallen below 1%.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: experts say wells near Lake Sapanca also draw groundwater that feeds the lake.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: village springs at Horzumalayaka were tendered for 39 years for a bottling plant; a village headman’s lawsuit was rejected and no Council of State decision was found.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not state what share of Bursa’s water supply bottling takes.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Annual water drawn from Lake Sapanca by factories equals Sakarya’s 20-day needİstiklal (SASKİ) · 2025-09-04
- Spring water in Bolu to be leased out: tender details and conditionsBolu Gündem · 2025
- Villagers’ water protest in BursaHabertürk · 2024
- Bursa, the city of water, has no drinking water left: 14 bottled-water plantsDHA / Bursa Hakimiyet · 2025
- Water crisis continues in Bursa: dams below 1 percentMedyascope · 2025-10-06
Connected cases
- Villagers in Bursa's Gözede cut pipes to city water factory Turkey · 2024
- Bursa Metropolitan Municipality (Government) — here: Public owner of the water factory in Gözede; there: Operator of the water factory
- Villagers in Gözede, Bursa cut pipes to a municipal water factory Turkey · 2024
- Bursa Metropolitan Municipality (Government) — here: Public owner of the water factory in Gözede; there: operator of the factory; disputes the villagers' account