The Istanbul municipality announced that dams' storage levels reached 95.1 percent on average, an extraordinary increase from only 17.2 percent in August 2014 and some 200 percent from the same period last year.
Ongoing rainfall and melting snow are expected to further increase the water volume. A dry spell toward the end of last summer prompted concerns of an imminent water shortage. High temperatures have rendered a dam out of use at only 0.44 percent of capacity.
It has been reported that Istanbul's four dams – Ömerli, Kazandere, Darlık and Istrancalar – have currently 100 percent storage capacity while another dam, Sazlıdere, has the least water storage among a total of 10 dams at 67.46 percent.
The Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs announced last year that they did not expect a significant water shortage, saying that the country will receive enough seasonal rain this winter to allay any potential drought concerns.
"We are ready for any drought that might happen in the coming 50 years," Minister Veysel Eroğlu said.
In order to curb concerns over the water shortage, Turkey continues constructing new water reservoirs to increase water storage capacity. The Melen reservoir, which will increase Istanbul's water storage capacity from 750 million cubic meters to 1 billion cubic meters, is due to be completed in December 2015.
Eroğlu has said that accessible water in the region where Istanbul is located is at 3 billion cubic meters and "will be enough for a projected population of 35 million in the coming decades."
