Cosmology of the Ergene River Pollution

The Ergene River has a length of 283 km within the European part of Turkey, which is also known as the Thrace Region, and its river basin area is 14,945.85 km2 that consists of agricultural lands noted for high fertility. It is born from Tekirdag, one of the three provinces of the region; passes through Kirklareli; and unites with the Evros River, the transboundary water connecting Greece and Turkey, in Edirne. Both rivers disembogue themselves into the Aegean Sea from the Saros Bay, which became one of the eighteen specially protected environment areas in 2010 due to its considerable biological diversity and seawater quality. However, the anti-ecological practices induced by industrialization and urbanization policies since the 1970s have had hazardous effects on the Ergene River ecosystems entirely, and particularly on the ground and surface waters. Benefitting from the related literature that has emerged since then, I aim to focus here on the pollution of the Ergene River as an outcome of the hegemonic cosmology in Turkey