Türkiye Water Efficiency Regulation: articles and annexes

Status of this edition

This is an explanatory translation, not a certified or verbatim legal translation. Every article and annex is covered by a reading guide; the complete, unchanged Turkish source remains available below, including its exact wording, tables and footnotes.

Official Turkish text and all annexes

Articles and temporary provision

Article 1 — Purpose and scope: establishes the procedures for setting up, monitoring and certifying water-efficiency systems and preparing provincial plans.

Article 2 — Legal basis: Presidential Decree No. 1, the provisions identified in the official article (410, 421, 435/A and 508).

Article 3 — Definitions: Ministry, non-conventional water resources, NACE, guidance documents, water efficiency, certificates, information system, provincial plans, efficiency plans and the efficiency system. The system encompasses staffing, planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting.

Article 4 — General principles: sector targets, planning in line with available water, metering and monitoring records, efficiency techniques, basin-aligned provincial plans, sustainable management, non-conventional sources, continuing systems and public awareness.

Article 5 — Establishment: Annex 1 entities establish their systems within the specified timetable. Stages include adequate staff assignment, an efficiency plan, training/awareness, implementation, monitoring and reporting.

Article 6 — Plans: cover current/planned use, existing practices, targets/measures, staffing/funding/technology and training. Submit a five-year schedule through the information system for Ministry approval. Monitor and enter results annually. National-security bodies are exempt from information-system data entry, not stated to be exempt from every system duty. Revise plans if targets are at risk.

Article 7 — Levels: blue, green and turquoise. Annex 1 entities establishing a system receive blue. Specified municipalities must apply for green within at most three years; listed irrigation, accommodation, airport, campus and industrial groups within at most five. The specified industrial groups may receive a Ministry-approved extension up to seven years based on a work schedule. Turquoise is voluntary. Annexes 3–5 set the criteria. Common-management premises and voluntary applications are also addressed; assess multiple entities with current Ministry guidance.

Article 8 — Applications: submit through the information system with required evidence. Ministry assessment takes 60 days; notified deficiencies must be completed within 60 days and the completed application is assessed within 60 days. Incomplete or unsuitable applications can be rejected. Fees are set annually. Criteria must continue to be met for renewal.

Article 9 — Validity and cancellation: five-year validity; obligatory renewal application three months before expiry. Specified failures in reporting or continuity trigger a 90-day improvement period, after which cancellation is possible. The Ministry may inspect on site. Notify changes affecting criteria within 60 days. Obligated holders must reapply within 90 days of cancellation.

Article 10 — Provincial plans: prepared by the Ministry through a participatory approach, considering climate-change impacts and covering urban, industrial and agricultural strategies, targets and actions to protect water quantity and quality.

Article 11 — Provincial approval: following provincial and basin water-board opinions, a National Water Board decision brings the plan into force for five years. Extraordinary circumstances may justify an earlier update. The provincial water board follows implementation.

Article 12 — Training: the Ministry sets procedures for training by obligated entities. Governorates promote awareness and information materials outside Annex 1 areas.

Article 13 — Interpretation: the Ministry resolves implementation uncertainties and may make subordinate regulatory arrangements.

Temporary Article 1 — Transitional data collection applies until the information system operates. Entities starting after publication calculate the Annex 1 establishment period from their start date. Users not required to establish a system must still provide water-use data when requested by the Ministry.

Article 14 — Entry into force: on publication.

Article 15 — Execution: the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry implements the regulation.

Annex 1 — Scope and timetable

These are base system-establishment dates calculated from the 27 December 2024 publication date and Annex 1 periods. For activities starting after publication, count from the actual start date. Check any entity-specific decision or current Ministry notice separately. A calculated date alone does not establish a penalty or application outcome.

Source: Türkiye Water Efficiency Regulation — official Turkish PDF · Annex 1 / Temporary Article 1

Annex 2 — 148 NACE activities

Annex 3 — Blue certificate

• Assign adequate staff
• Establish the current water-efficiency baseline
• Set water-efficiency targets
• Plan the actions needed to reach the targets
• Provide training
• Use water-efficient fixtures such as taps, showers and toilet cisterns
• Use written and visual information materials

Annex 4 — Green certificate

Municipalities: water-loss limits of 25% for metropolitan/provincial and 30% for other municipalities; at least 30% drought-tolerant landscaping. NACE facilities: 10% of total water use from non-conventional sources. Industrial zones: 5%. Airports and accommodation: at least 50% efficient water-use fixtures. University campuses: at least 25%. Agriculture: suitable modern pressurised irrigation where physically feasible, plus metering and monitoring.

TS ISO 46001 is not required at the first green application under the Annex 4 footnotes, but is mandatory at renewal. Rainwater harvesting refers to the relevant Planned Areas Zoning Regulation provision. Greywater criteria in the relevant tables apply to areas newly designed as of publication. The municipal treated-effluent reuse criterion and its population footnote must also be read together.

Annex 5 — Turquoise certificate

For NACE facilities, at least 20% of wastewater must be recovered and reused; for industrial zones, at least 25%. These wastewater-based criteria are different from the green level’s share of total water use supplied by non-conventional sources. Define the measurement boundary and denominator explicitly.

Municipal water loss is limited to 20%; the difference between the non-revenue-water ratio and the water-loss ratio must be at most 5%. Agricultural criteria include a non-conventional-source share of at least 30% and irrigation efficiency of at least 60%. Airports, accommodation and campuses require at least 75% efficient fixtures. The remaining sector criteria and footnotes still apply.