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In hotels that dot the Jordanian shore, the Dead Sea is an increasingly remote and inaccessible attraction. The stairs are adding steps quickly, forced by the slow agony of the lake. Each year its water level is reduced by more than one meter. Browsing the snapshots of the Dead Sea from just a few decades ago produces the same bleak effect that has reached other landscapes in Jordan, the fifth country with the greatest water stress on the planet.

"Water is the most important issue of our national security," Raed Abu el Saud, Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation, replies to THE WORLD. The unstoppable climate change is wreaking havoc in the scarce water reserves of the Arab country, with a current capacity that - on paper - could only quench the thirst of two million souls. The Jordanian population, however, exceeds ten million people, with rapid population growth due to the conflicts that have erupted over the past decade in neighboring Syria and Iraq. 1.4 million refugees have found shelter in their confines.

"There is a huge gap between the amount of water available and demand. Jordan depends on groundwater but the aquifers are being over-exploited, at levels much higher than their recovery, and could become extinct in the next 30 years," he warns in conversation with this newspaper Marwan Raggad, hydrogeologist at the University of Jordan.

24 hours supply per week

The UN considers "absolute shortage" when the annual water supply of a country is below 500 cubic meters per inhabitant. In Jordan, the record does not exceed 150 cubic meters per citizen. In some districts of Amman, the capital, its inhabitants enjoy 24 hours of supply a week. And they can be considered lucky. An endless succession of deposits emerges from the roofs of the buildings, as a perpetual memory of the crisis that grips its authorities.

"We are hunting for water resources," admits El Saud. "Our resources are very limited. We are currently making use of the average level of aquifers. The long-term plan is to look deeper. The only solution is to go in search of that deep water. The life expectancy of these reserves depends on the area One of the largest aquifers at our disposal has an estimated life of 25 years but our geologists estimate that it could be used for half a century, "the minister ventures.

Climate change in the Middle East, one of the world's regions most affected by the challenge, is a factor that blows up any forecast. According to a recent study by Stanford American University, contributions from the Yarmouk River to Jordan's water reserves could be reduced between 51 and 75 percent in 2050.

Torrential rains

"The impact of climate change is very strong in Jordan. The increase in temperature means more evaporation and greater need for irrigation in the agricultural sector. Climate change is modifying the flow of rainfall . We are moving towards an extreme situation, with torrential rains and floods that prevent us from capturing water and using it as a resource, "Raggad forecasts.

The floods that erupted in November 2018 in the ancient Nabatean city of Petra, harvesting twelve lives in its path, are proof of a phenomenon that has come to stay.

Over time, the authorities of the Hashemite kingdom recognize that the future does not smile at them. "I will tell you in two words our challenge: we don't have water or money and we have to manage those two deficiencies . When we say we want to pump deeper aquifers, that implies energy and the need to attract investors," the minister slides. Jordan, without the oil and gas with which the neighboring nations were blessed, faces the future immersed in a deep economic crisis and with the latent tensions of a society cohesive until now by tribal ties.

The dead Sea

The paralysis that affects the project to save the Dead Sea, from the transfer of water from the Jordanian port of Aqaba and the Israeli contributions from the Sea of ​​Galilee, is an epitome of the impasse in which Jordan is, in general. "We signed an agreement in 2005 but since then we have only accumulated delays and new demands. And every year we lose a meter of water. We try to avoid it but, in the end, it is an international issue. We are waiting for the formation of the new Executive in Israel to see what we can do. It is in stand by, "confirms El Saud.

In the water challenge, Raggad points out that "the authorities try to do something but it is not enough." "A large-scale financial investment is required. The main solution is to go towards desalination but it is not a cheap option for the price of energy and the reality that the sea is very far from the users, about 400 kilometers from the capital, "he adds. Wastewater treatment is the other alternative.

The inefficiency of the supply network and the illegal use of water - the public network loses about half of the water due to theft and leakage - as well as the outdated system of intensive agricultural irrigation are pending subjects, together with awareness. "We must raise awareness of the loss of water, the need to change the tanks and that the aquifers are running out," says Sufian Qurashi, a member of the Water Management Initiative, a project funded by the agency of American cooperation that has just signed a powerful public awareness campaign.

Before the thirst that tomorrow draws, the black and white frames continue to feed the nostalgia. "Before 1948 we were the country with more water in the region," the minister murmurs.

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