Jordan News

sunrise

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation sounded the alarm and warned Jordanians of a dry summer for the current year, when it revealed the reality of the difficult water situation in Jordan, since last April, and its statements regarding a decrease in the rate of rainfall in the winter of 2021, and the decrease in the dam stock in the Kingdom to less than 80 million cubic meters.

The ministry’s warnings about the decrease in dam stocks in general in the Kingdom compared to previous years, and its impact on the quantities of water available for drinking and agricultural purposes, come at a time when Jordan is draining groundwater very significantly “above the safe limit of extraction,” according to the Minister of Water and Irrigation. Engineer Mohammed Al-Najjar.

The Jordanian per capita share of water has declined over the past decades until it reached less than 100 cubic meters annually, which is considered one of the lowest rates in the world, while the percentage of water losses in Jordan is 48%, according to previous statements by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

The Ministry stressed the need to adopt water saving practices and techniques, as a step that cannot be overlooked in light of the water scarcity crisis that Jordan is suffering from, especially with the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, which doubled domestic use of water, as well as the increasing demand for water with hosting Syrian refugees to Jordan. In addition to the climatic changes that affect the whole world.

Tensions are escalating between Jordanians due to a “difficult watery summer” and the interruption of the supply of water to some areas, with the start of a rise in complaints of water distribution during this summer compared to the previous two years, and the continuation of government statements that warn of an inevitable water crisis!

Water reality in Jordan

The National Center for Security and Crisis Management called on citizens to rationalize water consumption; In order to avoid entering into a “water crisis,” in light of the water deficit and the total water shortage, estimated at 40 million cubic meters for the current year, of which 20 million cubic meters is the deficit in drinking water compared to last year, according to what the Minister of Water and Irrigation, Engineer Khaled al-Najjar, confirmed.

According to Al-Najjar, Al-Ajr is distributed around 25 million cubic meters in the capital, Amman, “a deficit of 8 million in Irbid, and a deficit in Karak of 3.6 million, and other governorates have very small water deficit values.”

In addition, the drop in rainfall to about 60% of the long-term average caused Jordan to reach a “critical” water reality, as described by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, which prompted it to announce a number of “restrictive” measures on citizens regarding the use of water, and threatened to take strict penalties. The right of citizens who use water outside the “necessary” limits set by the Ministry.

The Jordan Water Company “Miyahuna” has appealed to all its subscribers to rationalize and control the consumption of drinking water during the current summer; To ensure its arrival and in sufficient quantities to all participants, in the capital, Amman, Zarqa, Madaba, Fuheis, Mahis, Salt and Ain Al-Basha.

The company warned against “taking a series of deterrent penalties against anyone who uses drinking water for purposes other than its purposes,” which may amount to “separating the water service from them,” and “not accepting any objections to high water cuts,” and “in particular, those who work to waste it.” In the uses of rinsing, spraying sidewalks, and washing exterior driveways and cars.”

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Al-Hanaifat, described the water situation in Jordan as “not reassuring, and it is witnessing the depletion of groundwater wells,” noting that the agricultural sector depends 70% on artesian wells, and 30% on dam water.

Hanifat pointed out that “there is a number of influential people controlling artesian wells, but the government, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, is working hard to curb this phenomenon.”

Artesian wells as a means to absorb the crisis

In an attempt to contain the crisis, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation worked to “complete the drilling of a new set of wells,” and allowed the people of the southern Jordan Valley regions to dig artesian wells for agricultural purposes only, in light of the water crisis that Jordan is going through.

In the North Region, the Yarmouk Water Company leased a group of private wells; With the aim of providing the company’s areas of jurisdiction with additional quantities of drinking water during the current summer, amounting to about 830 cubic meters per hour, in addition to the company’s previous agreements, which are estimated at 900 cubic meters per hour; This is “with the aim of confronting the water shortage crisis and alleviating the citizens in the northern governorates.”

The Water Authority and its subsidiaries have also rented tanks to be installed for emergencies with the aim of “providing citizens when they file complaints if water does not reach them during the round stage,” in addition to “strengthening the governorates with tanks from the Water Authority also to improve the water supply through tanks when needed.”

A recent study, conducted by a research team at the University of California, St. Barbara, warned of the danger of drought on wells, and “if groundwater reserves continue to decline at the same current rates, about 20% of groundwater wells worldwide may be at risk. Drought,” noting that “there is an imminent threat to a major source of drinking water and irrigation, upon which billions of people depend.”

Buying water from “Israel”

On July 8, Jordan and Israel reached an agreement under which Israel will provide the kingdom with 50 million cubic meters of additional purchased water.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett agreed to sell Jordan an additional 50 million cubic meters of water from Lake Tiberias, in both the current and next years, in addition to the 55 million cubic meters that Jordan buys annually, at full price, under the Wadi Araba agreements.

Bennett’s approval of the Jordanian request came for the current and next year 2022, “with Tel Aviv examining the Jordanian request in subsequent years, in accordance with the current situation at the time, in terms of water stock, as the water authority of the occupation assesses, the water stock of Lake Tiberias currently allows to supply Jordan requested it until the end of 2022.”

According to Hebrew reports, “Bennett hopes to open a new page with Jordan, after a turbulent atmosphere during the Netanyahu government,” after the kingdom requested to purchase additional water from the Israeli side, during the Netanyahu government, which rejected Jordan’s request, by procrastinating and not responding.

Urgent but postponed projects

The water crisis intensified locally, after the World Bank announced its withdrawal from financing the “Bahrain (Red and Dead) Conveyor” project, and its removal from the list of projects to be implemented; He explained that the reason for this is that the government did not agree on the project parameters, and therefore the indicator related to this project with the World Bank was deleted.

And the “Bahrain Transporter” is a joint regional project between Jordan, Palestine and “Israel”, for which a memorandum of understanding was signed between the three parties at the World Bank in Washington during the year 2013, in which the three beneficiary parties agreed to implement the first phase of the project to support regional cooperation within the framework of the need Al Masa for drinking water in the area.

The objective of the project was to provide potable water and supply water to the Dead Sea; To reduce the environmental deterioration caused by the low water level in it, by establishing a desalination plant in Aqaba to desalinate (85-100) million cubic meters of water annually, and transferring the highly saline water resulting from desalination to the Dead Sea. According to the agreement, Palestine and “Israel” are supposed to obtain It also includes millions of cubic meters of desalinated water generated by the project.

At a time when the World Bank withdrew from financing the “Bahrain Transporter,” it confirmed that it had prepared a roadmap for the financial sustainability of the water sector in Jordan, which would provide funding for a potential investment project in 2022, to enhance water security and manage financial risks in it.

The government response to the World Bank’s withdrawal from financing the “Bahrain Transporter” project came that “it is now in news because there is no agreement between the parties to the project,” according to what the Minister of Water and Irrigation, Eng. Muhammad Al-Najjar, confirmed, who stated that “the project has ended and that the efforts of Jordan is focused on implementing a national water transfer project without the participation of any party.

However, Al-Najjar stated that the Ministry of Water and Irrigation has postponed the start of the implementation of the “national carrier” water project until the end of the year 2023, suggesting that the fruits of the project will be harvested in the year 2026, despite his recognition that “our need for the national carrier project is urgent and it was supposed to be in 2019.” And that “the longer we delay the national carrier project, the cost will be higher and our groundwater will be drained more, which is barely enough.”

According to Al-Najjar, the “national water carrier” aims to secure the Kingdom with 300 million cubic meters of water, which is greater than Jordan’s current need, but it will include “a share for agriculture, and another to stop the depletion of underground wells and the return of the water surface to the height.”

Jordan is facing the problem of a decrease in the level of the Dead Sea by about 22 meters since the year 2000, which requires a sustainable solution to avoid the aggravation of the problem and to avoid the Dead Sea water level reaching a state of balance between the density of salt and the total water.

The capital value of the national project ranges between 1.5 and 2 billion US dollars, which aims to “desalinate sea water in the Gulf of Aqaba with a capacity of 350 million m³ In the first and second phases on the (BOT) system,” according to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

According to the ministry, “the project consists of a system for transporting and desalinating sea water in Aqaba and a system for transporting fresh water to the rest of the regions, where the first phase will provide 130 million m³ It will be mixed with well water from the Wadi Rum field to provide fresh water for drinking purposes according to the best specifications, as the maximum capacity of the project will reach 350 million m^3″.

The delay in implementation was not limited to the national carrier only, but citizens in the northern region are waiting for the year 2023; To start implementing some projects aimed at solving the water problem in the region, “the head of the Jerash Governorate Council, Raed Al-Otoum, suggested starting the implementation of projects – which were included at the expense of grants – to solve the water and sanitation problem for the northern governorates, especially Jerash and Ajloun in 2022/2023.” .

Al-Atoum’s statements came after several demands from the provincial council to “include projects at the expense of grants to reduce the water crisis in the province.”

Strategies Without Possibility

In order to avoid a recurrence of the water deficit in 2022, Jordan discussed with Syria the provision of larger quantities of water, according to the current plan of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, which aims to “avoid a recurrence of the water deficit next year.”

According to Al-Najjar, “Jordan received all its dues from the Tiberias water in full, but it is not enough, and there are strategies to confront the crisis for the coming years; Including the possibility of increasing pumping from the Disi water, and this requires financial capabilities.”

Will Jordan overcome the water crisis in the summer of 2021?

Al-Najjar acknowledged that Jordan will not be able to fill the water deficit for this summer, noting that the current summer “began early and the temperature has started to rise and the rate of complaints has increased from such a period last year and the year before; The reason is that the rainfall is modest.”

With regard to the expansion of dam construction, Al-Najjar said in previous television statements that the expansion of dam building is a “not feasible” solution, especially since the number of built dams is sufficient according to the rate of rainfall, and “there is no area left without dams being built and built wherever they are built.” useful.”

He added, that the percentage of water losses in Jordan amounted to 48%, and half of the water losses are from networks, explaining that “the losses are physical through networks and pipes, or errors in meters, and the percentage here is large, and there are grants directed to modernizing and changing networks, or it is through thefts.” .

It is noteworthy that the stock of dams in Jordan was recorded during the rainy season last year, about 220 million cubic meters, or 65% of the total storage capacity of dams of about 336 million cubic meters, while the stock of dams during the winter season did not exceed 140 million cubic meters. And 42% of the dams’ capacity, according to data from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

Drinking water services reach 94% of the population of Jordan, which depends mainly on rainwater that changes from year to year, while it arrives, while rainfall has decreased by 20% during the past decades, according to what the director of “Miyahuna” company in Zarqa Governorate, Eng. Jeries Dababneh confirmed. In a previous press statement.

Dababneh explained that the causes of the water crisis in Jordan are “the recent past conflicts and crises and migration in the region and neighboring countries, as the influx of large numbers of refugees into Jordan exacerbated the water crisis and put a great pressure on Jordan’s resources,” noting “the high demand for water.” In the northern governorates, it increased by 40% as a result of hosting Syrian refugees.”

He added, “The over-pumping and depletion of groundwater basins and the problem of water losses as a result of attacks on water sources and transmission lines, the aging of water networks and their exposure to wear and tear, are among the main causes of the water crisis in Jordan.”