Pollution in Riva Creek increasing, citizens demand action

The residents of Istanbul’s Beykoz district have asked the authorities to take precautions regarding the pollution and lousy odor originating from Riva Creek.

The increasingly bad smell in Riva Creek and the color of the stream, which started turning black in recent days, drew the reaction of the people living in the vicinity.

Acting upon the increasing complaints of the surrounding residents, the environmental inspection teams affiliated with the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change examined the area and took samples from the creek.

Citizens who are said to feel uneasy due to the bad smell spreading toward the inner parts of the creek and the darkening of the color of the water in some places called the authorities to find a solution.

Salih Belen, the mukhtar or the local headman of Beykoz’s Riva neighborhood, speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), said that complaints about its odor and color change in the region started 10 days ago.

«After smelling bad smells, I called ISKI (Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration). Then I felt the same smell again, I called the directorate again, and told me, ‘We have information,’ but they could not take action,» Belen said.

Expressing that they have been disturbed by the pollution in the stream for years, Belen said that there are villages such as Hüseyinli, Cumhuriyet, Bozhane, Öğümce, Akbaba that cross the points of Paşaköy Advanced Biological Wastewater Treatment Facilities and expand to the point where the stream empties into the sea.

«These are places that receive the treatment, and their treatment is transferred to Riva, but ISKI needs to monitor whether it is purified. If the wastes are separated and thrown away, they do not smell like this, meaning the machines are not working,» he said.

Belen explained that Riva is a tourist-affiliated area, mentioning that people swim in the sea in the summer. «There used to be fish here. Now there are no fish or anything else alive,» Belen concluded.

The pollution of Riva Creek, one of Istanbul’s most significant streams that flows into the Black Sea, is recognized as an ongoing social issue – negatively affecting the lives and livelihoods of the citizens in the surrounding area.