Water Management
Water use and management in Türk Telekom
Caring for the use of water as a part of its sustainability approach, Türk Telekom carries out activities to reduce water consumption and monitors consumption closely.
Türk Telekom’s most important project in reducing water consumption is the Building Centralisation project. In this context, the Company has been reducing the amount of water used every year since 2013 by optimising building utilisation and reducing the number of buildings with employees. In buildings, where only area optimisation is carried out, wet areas are reviewed, and unnecessary ones are closed, while the amount of utility water and water used in cleaning these areas are reduced.
In addition, in 2012, the Company started to use water more efficiently by attaching a saving device cap (aerator cap) to the faucets in the personnel intensive buildings across the country. In this context, similar shortcomings in worn out or renewed areas are controlled and eliminated every year.
Türk Telekom contributes to water savings by using photocell batteries in its new projects, despite the high investment cost. In addition, a gray water system is also in use in the Ankara headquarter tower building in Aydınlıkevler, which has been operational for 5 years. With this system, water expenses and usage are reduced by reusing water used in sinks in the toilet reservoirs after the necessary treatment. Rainwater is also stored in the tower building and used in landscape irrigation. In landscape irrigation areas, water waste is prevented with timerbased automated sprinkler systems and irrigation is done at minimum levels according to the need.
The increase in water use associated with the need for cleaning due to global pandemic and decline in precipitation in recent years shows that access to water will become more difficult in the upcoming years. Türk Telekom shared many visual and written content and carried out local and general savings activities in 2021 in order to raise awareness among its personnel in this context.
Türk Telekom has been tracking and reporting its water usage for years. As a result of the actions taken, the downward trend continues in the amount of Türk Telekom Group’s water consumption. In 2019, water consumption decreased by 31% compared to its level 4 years ago and declined to 653 thousand cubic meters. In 2020, in addition to the downward trend, the pandemic and the intense transition to home office system decreased the consumption by 35% year on year, to 433 thousand cubic meters per annum.
In 2021, the home office working model continued until November, and in November, a new working model was put into practice at Türk Telekom. Thanks to the working model applied in 4 different ways as office, hybrid, mobile and remote, the annual water consumption in Türk Telekom offices and buildings remained close to the previous year and totalled to 438 thousand cubic meters annually. With the new working model, annual water consumption remained much lower than it would have been if the full time office model had been implemented. It is anticipated that the change in this area will be observed more clearly in the upcoming years.
