Istanbul's municipality and water utility co-own spring-water bottler Hamidiye
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (55%) and water utility İSKİ (45%) co-own Hamidiye, a spring-water bottler. An audit found İSKİ allocated water without tender at low rent, and the sources reviewed hold no record that the environmental water need of a bottling lease was calculated.
- Sırma/Hayat — holds 21 spring sources in six provinces Rekabet Kurulu
- Village communities near the leased springs — no village rent share is recorded as paid for a bottling lease Sayıştay
What happened
A Sayıştay audit report and a 2023 Cumhuriyet report give the owners of Hamidiye as Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (55%) and İSKİ (45%).
A Sayıştay report on İSKİ, reported on 4 December 2021, found water allocated without tender at low rent; the audited year was not verified.
Haber32 and Evrensel reported 2026 tender prices of 0.008 to 0.044 lira per litre, and the Competition Board said incumbent tenants usually keep their tenders.
Sayıştay also found, in an audit of the Kocaeli water administration, that some water administrations did not pass a share to their municipality.
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
- None on record Reported without a linked source: bottled water is about 0.02% of Turkey's annual water use, and irrigation takes about 77%.
- None on record Reported without a linked source: a 19-litre bottle costs about 1 lira to produce and sells for 50 to 55 lira.
- None on record Reported without a linked source: 4% of Istanbul residents drank tap water without hesitation in 2017, and SUDER estimates about 30% of homes have a filter.
- None on record Reported without a linked source: the Water Allocation Regulation ranks commercial water last and requires an environmental needs assessment and a village rent share; no record shows either was done.
- Not measured The sources reviewed show no measurement of how the leases affect water flow.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not say who the parties were in the 2023 sale.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not state where the Hamidiye springs are; the map point is Istanbul, where the owners are.
- Disputed The dates of the tender price reports differ, so the figures may not be directly comparable.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Press and investigations
- İSKİ audit: allocation without tender and low rentTakvim (Sayıştay report) · 2021-12-04
- Sayıştay audit report on Hamidiye Kaynak SularıSayıştay (Turkish Court of Accounts) ·
- İSKİ general manager explains whether tap water is drinkableCumhuriyet · 2023
- Spring-water business to be leased outHaber32 · 2026
- IBB's Hamidiye water fee increaseEvrensel · 2026
- Competition Board decision on spring-water tendersRekabet Kurulu · 2024
Connected cases
- Court of Accounts found İSKİ allocated springs without tender at low rent Turkey · date not stated
- Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) (Government) — here: 55% owner of Hamidiye; there: majority owner of Hamidiye
- İSKİ (Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration) (Government) — here: 45% owner of Hamidiye; Istanbul water utility; there: allocated the springs
- Hamidiye Kaynak Suları Sanayi Turizm ve Ticaret A.Ş. (Company) — here: spring-water bottler; there: spring water company partly owned by İSKİ