istanbul metropolitan municipality

Istanbul has only three months of water left, but rainfalls expected in the coming weeks will fill up dams by February for enough water, the deputy director of State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) has said.

Oğuz Kasap told lawmakers in parliament that Turkey goes through such a drought every once in a decade.

The "Istanbul The Lights" project, which has been organized by the Contemporary Istanbul Foundation with the support of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, will be realized from Dec. 7 to Jan. 3.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has warned residents to use water more efficiently as water levels in the city's dams decreased to 24.4 percent, almost half of the rate in the same month last year.

The reason for this sharp fall was the lack of rain in November, the municipality said.

Water levels were at 45.27 percent in the same month last year.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's proposal to roll out 6,000 new taxi licenses has been rejected once again by the decision of the city's transportation coordination body.

The proposal of the municipality was put on the agenda for the third time at the Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME) meeting held at the Istanbul Congress Center on Nov. 26.

The main causes of nearly 18,000 fires that occurred in the first 10 months of 2020 in Istanbul were cigarette butts and electrical short circuits, according to data from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

The number of fires in 2020 decreased by 7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, the report said.

A drop in rainfall has led to a decline in water levels in dams supplying water to Istanbul, Turkey's most populous province.

The dams held the lowest water level in the past 10 years as of Nov. 22, at 26.34 percent, Demirören News Agency reported.

A teenager born without a right arm and left leg started swimming for rehabilitation and succeeded in becoming a national swimmer by overcoming his fear of water.
Having won 50 times already acquiring first place, he is now aiming to achieve new challenges.

Taxi license plate prices in the city decreased by nearly 10 percent following the announcement of a plan to increase the number of taxis operating in Istanbul, the country's largest metropolis with a population of over 16 million.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has brought electric vehicles to be used on the Princes' Islands (Adalar), off Istanbul's coast, after a ban on horse-drawn carriages as a result of the killing of dozens of horses due to an outbreak of glanders and years-long animal rights activism against what advocates called the ill-treatment of horses.

The number of taxis in Istanbul will be increased for the first time after many years, because they are not enough for the city's large population, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has said in an interview with private broadcaster Fox TV.