Starting in May, water bills issued by Fethiye Belediye will include messages about climate change designed to make people take it seriously.

This move has arisen from a two-day conference held at Fethiye Cultural Centre on 11 – 12 April as part of World Health Week.  The Mayor of Fethiye, Beh椴 Saatci, in his speech to the Conference focused on water issues.  He stated that globally 72% of water was used for agriculture purposes, 18% domestically and the other 10% in manufacturing.  Figures showed that Fethiye’s rainfall over the past 50 years had reduced and, whilst the area is still very rich in water, it would be beneficial for everyone to start monitoring their use of this precious resource.  Last year many towns and cities in Turkey had suffered serious water shortages and that could also happen in Fethiye in the future.

Accordingly, the Mayor said, from May all water bills would be printed with messages such as “Climate is changing – are you?” Which in Turkish is “Iklim değişiyor, ya siz?”.

It may not seem much but health warnings on cigarette packets would seem to have contributed to a drop in the number of smokers, maybe Fethiye’s messages will also give results in due course.