Residents living near Istanbul’s iconic Golden Horn have recently expressed concern about the unpleasant smell originating from the discolored, polluted water, blaming the local authorities for their inaction.

"We live nearby. We come here to give the kids some fresh air. There was no smell before. We have been dealing with the smell for four or five months. A very distracting smell. It is intense, especially in the mornings," Nurcan Öztürk told Ihlas News Agency (IHA) on Monday.

However, the odor present in the Golden Horn area is an isolated issue. According to reports from local media, similar issues attributed to uncontrolled wastewater management and inadequate cleaning have been reported in the Cendere Creek in Kağıthane, Riva Creek in Beykoz and Tugay Creek in Maltepe.

According to reports from Yeni Şafak newspaper, the completion of sludge removal and odor elimination units at the Baltalimanı Biological Wastewater Treatment Plant by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) has been delayed.

The lack of activity in the Baltalimanı Biological Wastewater Treatment Plant, which was supposed to have been completed in October 2020 but was only put into service in January 2023, raises the alarm, according to Justice and Development (AK Party) parliamentarian Hüseyin Coşkun.

The facility, which was tendered for approximately TL 330 million ($13.9 million) in 2017 when Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality was under AK Party administration, could not be completed after the municipality leadership was passed on Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The expenditure reached TL 1.9 billion in 2023, Çoskun said, explaining that the cost has risen by over TL 1.4 billion.

Noting that the contractor company is still trying to complete the facility, Coşkun said: "Due to the deficiencies, the facility mainly carries out pre-treatment. The biological part of the facility does not work. In particular, the processing structures related to sludge could not be completed and put into operation."

"Dumping untreated polluted water into the Bosporus has also increased the jellyfish population in our seas. The carelessness is destroying Istanbul with both a bad smell and pollution," he added.

Sadullah Hasanoğlu, the chair of IBB’s Environment, Renewable Energy and Climate Change Commission, also drew attention to the problem of waste management, highlighting that wastewater treatment plants should be operating efficiently.

"If these facilities do not operate actively, and if polluted water is discharged into the sea or streams, a very strong bad odor surrounds them. Since 2019, we see that the treatment facilities have not been operated efficiently," Hasanoğlu underlined.

Pollution across the city

"The reason for the pollution and bad smell is poor management and ignorance. The Golden Horn is polluted and needs to be cleaned. Wastewater should not flow into the Golden Horn. Maltepe Tugay Creek also started to smell not long ago because it was not cleaned. Odor and pollution in the Riva Creek in Beykoz are (lingering) for the last three years. There is a problem. The stream is black."

"Pollution in the streams has also increased mosquitoes, causing diseases. Streams should be cleaned and sprayed periodically for the health of the citizens," he noted.

Osman Meydancı, one of the residents of Baltalimanı in Sarıyer, said that they could not even open the windows in the house they lived in for one year: "I want to call out IBB Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu. He was not leaving this neighborhood before the election. He did not come here again after the election passed. Let him spend a few hours here so that he can see how it smells."

"We can’t go down to the beach in Emirgan because the dirty water is pouring into the Bosporus. It smells like the old Golden Horn. We have complained many times; they say, ‘We will fix it’ and pass it off. Istanbul is literally living in disgrace," the frustrated citizen maintained.

One of the areas where the ramped-up pollution was seen, especially as the warmer weather is approaching, is Kurbağlıdare in the Kadıköy district, on the Anatolian side of the city.

According to AK Party Kadıköy District Deputy Chairperson Mahmut Hacıbektaşoğlu, the action led by their party on the cleaning and rehabilitating the area of Kurbağlıdere was limited due to obstacles created by the CHP-led local municipality.

"We have received serious complaints about the smell in Hasanpaşa and Kızıltoprak as the weather warms up. People say they can’t avoid the odor and smell. It smells not only around the stream but also at the Kadıköy dock. It has become unbearable ... The (existence) of a pre-treatment water facility in Kadıköy is not enough. This facility needs to be developed. If it continues like this, we will face serious health problems," he said.

The mukhtar of Riva Göllu village, Celalettin Ayvaz, similarly conveyed the dissatisfaction due to dirt in the local creek, stating that factory waste flows into the stream, while the municipality is not taking any permanent concrete measures.

"The color of the stream is black, and it smells. We applied to the IBB; they did not clean it. We are officially living with this smell," Ayvaz noted.