Water, thank God you chose Dalyan!!!

[Dalyansteve]

I have just been to Bodrum for the weekend, you know decent chinese meal, movie and Burgler king,Great!!!
However I was talking to a friend about the cost of living etc, and when comparing water bills he pays 200lira a month and we pay about 20!!! This is not because we are dirty, it is because they have to rely on tankered water. If you choose to live in Hisaronu, for example, you get mains water on Tuesdays and Thursdays, if you live in Bodrum or Kusadasi you rely on tankered water.
We in this area can stick a 2 metre pipe in the ground and water comes out, put it down 5 metres and it is nearly good enough to drink. Something to think about when you are looking to move.

[tarla kusu]

I didn't realise how much others have to pay in Turkey for what we take for granted in Dalyan. A real eye opener.
But would you really drink ground water?
Dig the hole 120 metres and it is artesian water (totally different ball game) which comes up under its own pressure and is drinkable. At 5 metres it is ground water and all that that implies; fill a pool and water the garden yes, drinking it................ I think not.
However if you pumped that ground water through a reverse osmosis system then you're quids in.( Ask Alan he knows about these things; he's installed one of these too)

[Dalyansteve]

As little as 30 years ago Dalyan did not have electricity let alone piped water. Our house was built about 40 years ago and the well was dug, technology available elsewhere would have been science fiction here so digging 120 metres for an artesian well would have been impossible. I have had conversations with my neighbour , who was born in this house, and he said our well at about 15 metres was the deepest known at that time, yes they drank the water but it had to be boiled first. For decent drinking water they had to walk to the spring on the Iztuzu road and fill containers and bring it home. If you go to the spring you can still see locals filling containers for drinking water.
Using an r/o system is an excellent way of making your tap water pleasant to drink, the main reason people locally use bottled water is because when the new water system was being installed we were all warned not to drink the tap water as it kept getting contaminated with the new connections, even now we still get bits of grit in the tap filters. It is safe to drink now but does not taste very nice and with a carboy of water being only 4 lira delivered many people still drink bottled.

[Ronster]

Hi Steve,

A related question on water & water quality. We have a well in our villa garden which is situated in Maras Mar near Dalyan Resort hotel, not too far from the river.
We have been advised the water is no good even to water the garden, plants dying etc, albeit I have a built-in irrigation system. Also advised not to use well water in the pool, is this a ploy or could the other salt pool systems handle this ?

My belief is the soil, or lack of sufficient topsoil & not watering adequately in the cool of the evening is more the problem. Does anyone know where I can get a water sample tested locally ?

Regards, Ron

[Dalyansteve]

In all probability your bore well is not deep enough. In that part of town the bore water has high concentrations of sulpher and salt from its proximity to the river. As for getting it tested, there is a labortory in Ortaca but whether or not they have facilities to test the water I don't know. They basically stopped digging deep bore holes with the introduction of Belediye water.
Having said all that the farmers don't seem to mind using sulpherous water on the fruit orchards.