"Detection of Hazardous Substances in Coastal and Transitional Waters of Turkey and Ecological Coastal Dynamics (KIYITEMA, 2012-2014)" supported by the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs (MoFWA) General Directorate of Water Management and carried out by TÜBİTAK MAM Environment and Clean Production Institute The closing meeting of the Project was held in Izmir, one of the four pilot regions in the project. The meeting was attended by 80 people representing relevant institutions/organizations and provincial/regional directorates, universities, NGOs and industrial organizations in the region.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Hayati Çelenk, OSİB DSİ 2nd Regional Director. Mr. Hayati Çelenk, Director of TÜBİTAK MAM Environment and Cleaner Production Institute Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kitiş and Mr. Sedat Kadıoğlu, Deputy Undersecretary of OSİB. Mr. Sedat Kadıoğlu, Deputy Undersecretary of OSİB started with opening speeches. Afterwards, Mr. Dr. Yakup Karaaslan, Deputy Director General of Water Management of the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, delivered his speech. Prof. Dr. Yakup Karaaslan, Deputy Director General of Water Management of the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, made an informative presentation on "Hazardous Substances and Related National/International Legislation". Afterwards, Mr. Ülkü Yetiş, one of the project consultants and METU Environmental Engineering Faculty Member, gave a presentation on Hazardous Substances. Prof. Dr. Ülkü Yetiş, one of the project consultants, made a presentation on environmental risks and harmful effects of Hazardous Substances. Afterwards, Project Manager Ms. Ms. Gülsen Avaz, Project Manager, introduced the project and explained the activities carried out within the scope of the project; Ms. Ersan Kuzyaka, Deputy Project Manager, explained the monitoring activities and the project. Ersan Kuzyaka presented the monitoring studies and results, and Ms. Ms. Pembe Özer Erdoğan presented the results of the sectoral inventory and prioritization studies. Finally, the web-based application KIYI_DESPRO, which was developed to determine the limits of discharges to coastal/transit waters together with TEMBIS application where the data is transferred within the scope of the Project, was introduced.

Launched in August 2012 and completed by the end of October 2014, the project, which was carried out with the national budget in the pilot areas of Izmir Nemrut and Aliağa Bays, Iskenderun Bay, Izmit Bay and Samsun Port, has been used to create a sector-based hazardous substance inventory for urban and industrial activities including iron and steel industry, petrochemical industry, natural gas cycle plants and filling facilities, refineries, paper industry, port activities, ship dismantling facilities, chemical industry, fertilizer industry, pharmaceutical industry, urban wastewater treatment plants and OIZs. As a result of these activities, 138 hazardous substances likely to be found in coastal and transit waters were identified.

An Important Step Towards Harmonization with the European Union

For the identified hazardous substances, monitoring studies were carried out in coastal and transitional waters and urban and industrial wastewaters in pilot areas for 1 year in 2-month periods, environmental quality standards expressing receiving environment standards were determined by revealing the ecological structure and coastal dynamics, and the data obtained were transferred to the "Hazardous Substance Information System".

The outputs of all studies carried out to identify hazardous substances from point and diffuse sources will be evaluated together, and the hazardous substances identified for Turkey and the environmental quality standards for them will be integrated into the "By-Law on Surface Water Quality Management" in 2015. Thus, an important step will be taken in the harmonization of the "Water Framework Directive" and harmonization with the EU.

With the inclusion of these standards in the legislation, it is expected that certain responsibilities of industrialists, farmers and public institutions will arise and practices to prevent both point and diffuse pollution will be put into practice. With all these studies, it is aimed to make a significant contribution to the protection of the environment and human health by controlling the effects of hazardous substances on our country's water resources.

The institutions/organizations participating in the meeting are given below:

• Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, General Directorate of Water Management
• TUBITAK MAM
• Ministry of Environment and Urbanization
• Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology
• DSI 2nd Regional Directorate
• DSI 6th Regional Directorate

• Ankara Metropolitan Municipality ASKI General Directorate
• Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality ISKI General Directorate
• Izmir Metropolitan Municipality IZSU General Directorate
• Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, General Directorate of Water and Sewerage Administration (ISU)
• Dokuz Eylul University Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology
• Dokuz Eylul University Department of Environmental Engineering
• Istanbul Technical University, Department of Environmental Engineering
• Istanbul Technical University, Department of Environmental Engineering
• Middle East Technical University, Department of Environmental Engineering
• Süleyman Demirel University, Department of Environmental Engineering
• Akfensu Arbiogaz A.S.
• Arcelik A.S:
• Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO)
• Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO)
• ENKA Construction and Industry Inc.
• Gebze Plastics Organized Industrial Zone
• ISDEMIR
• Izmir Atatürk Organized Industrial Zone
• PETKIM
• TAT Gıda A.S.
• Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB)
• Uludag University, Department of Environmental Engineering