Tenth International Water Technology Conference, IWTC10 2006, Alexandria, Egypt 745 SALINITY PROBLEMS AND DESALINATION APPLICATIONS IN TURKEY Unsal Gemici 1 , Mesut Ak 2 , and Aysen Turkman 2 1 Dokuz Eylul University, Department of Geological Engineering, Bornova Izmir, Turkey 2 Dokuz Eylul University, Department of Environmental Engineering, Buca Izmir, Turkey E-mail: unsal.gemici@deu.edu.tr , mesut.ak@deu.edu.tr , aysen.turkman@deu.edu.tr ABSTRACT The increase in water demand causes overpumping of groundwater resulting in seawater intrusion and deterioration of the water quality in coastal aquifers. Especially in summer months, the consumption of groundwater increases owing to human settlements in seashores. Due to the salinity problems, application of membrane processes increased in recent years in all over the world and in Turkey. Membrane process is applied mainly for industrial purposes and in touristic areas where seawater intrusion into the groundwater takes place. In this study, salinity problems in Turkey are discussed and a general view of membrane process applications is given. Keywords: Salinity, desalination, membrane process INTRODUCTION The importance of water resources is continuously rising in recent years all over the world. This is emphasized in Middle East Region where Turkey is situated. The region has a semiarid climate; therefore the water potential is low. On the other hand, rapidly growing population causes continuous increase in water demand. In Turkey, an estimated 95 billion m 3 of the annual average surface flow (of 186 billion m 3 ) and 12 billion m 3 of groundwater reserves (of 41 billion m 3 ) are economically and technically exploitable. Water consumption was 34 billion m 3 in 1996; 28 billion m 3 of which was supplied from surface waters and the remainder from groundwater. 76% of that volume was used for irrigation followed by drinking water (14%) and industrial uses (10%). This corresponds to an annual consumption of drinking water of about 74 m 3 per capita, compared to about 100 m 3 in Europe. Nearly 100% of urban dwellers but only 85% of rural residents have access to safe drinking water. Moreover, water supply is also a problem for new residents in peripheral and/or illegally settled areas of cities in Turkey (DPT, 1998).