J. Int. Environmental Application & Science, Vol. 3(5): 390-398 (2008) 390 Water Potential of the Gölbaşı Lakes and Their Sustainable Management # Hüseyin Korkmaz¹, Murat Karabulut² ∗ , Mehmet Gürbüz² ¹Mustafa Kemal University, Arts and Sciences Faculty, Geography Department, Antakya-Turkey; ²Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Arts and Sciences Faculty, Geography Department, Kahramanmaraş-Turkey. Abstract: Located at the interconnection point of the Mediterranean Region, East Anatolia Region and Southeast Anatolia Region, Gölbaşı Lakes is one of the important wetlands on the intercontinental bird migration routes. Located in the west of Gölbaşı district centre of Adıyaman province, this wetland is composed of three lakes, namely İnekli, Azaplı and Gölbaşı which have a total area of 5.97km 2 . These lakes stretch along the northeast-southwest aligned long axis of the Gölbaşı depression which was formed in special conditions that developed under the control of East Anatolia Fault. The waters of the Gölbaşı Lakes, which are interconnected via the outlets, flow into the Aksu Creek. In this study, water potential of the Gölbaşı Lakes and the transfer of this potential to the following generations with sustainable management have been discussed. In this concept, the effects of the climatic, tectonic and hydrogeological features of the hydrographic basin of 210km 2 on the water potential have been set forth. Then, water balances of the lakes have been prepared. However; due to the fact that there are no adequate current measurements which put out the lakes’ feeding with the surface flow, water balance has been calculated with M. Turc empirical method which gives more accurate results in Turkey’s conditions. According to this, feeding and discharge of 40.167.992m 3 /year have been observed in the Gölbaşı Lake; feeding and discharge of 52.748.901m 3 /year have been observed in the Azaplı Lake; and feeding and discharge of 78.631.298m 3 / year have been observed in the İnekli Lake. Gölbaşı Lakes is under the threat of such factors as insensible irrigation and usage-intended water consumption which increasingly rises every year, drying activities for agricultural and residential purposes, decrease of the water sources which feed the system, and pollution. The transfer of a part of Aksu Creek’s waters with gravitation from the north of the depression to the Gölbaşı Lake with a canal constitutes both the most economical and the most ecological solution for the elimination of the threats. Key Words: Gölbaşı Depression, Gölbaşı Lakes, Hydrologic Balance, Sustainable Management. Introduction Water is a quintessential substance for the humans for their entire lifetime just like every living thing. For that reason, stream valleys, open coasts, floodplain areas and lake environs have been used as settlement areas by humans in the course of history. However, an opinion was embraced in time which asserted that wetlands such as especially shallow lakes, reeds and marshes are useless or even worthless places filled with pestiferous insects. The further addition of the desire to take control and exploit the nature by humans with the industrial revolution into this opinion caused the rapid destruction of wetlands. However, it started to be understood in the late 1960s that wetlands perform many functions which have vital importance. After the 1980s, the opinion asserting that wetlands must not be dried and must be protected on the contrary came forward. As for today, drying the wetlands is prohibited by laws. The abovementioned course was also experienced in our country, and many of our wetlands which have intercontinental importance were dried. In addition to this, rapid growth of our population and the rise of the living standards with the economic development increase the per capita drinking water and utility water need. On the other hand, our clean and utilizable water sources rapidly decrease as a result of such factors as drying activities, global warming and drought. Water problems resulting *Corresponding: mkarabulut@ksu.edu.tr, Tel:+90344-2191333; Fax: +90-344-2191042 # This study has been presented at BIES’08, Giresun-Turkey