Drought in Jordan: lack of water becomes alarming for the population
A view of the Mujib Dam reservoir, Amman's main source of water supply, in Madaba governorate on April 20, 2021. Jordan faces one of the most severe droughts in its history .
AFP - KHALIL MAZRAAWI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
It is a historic drought wave affecting Jordan.
Six of the country's 17 dams have dried up.
For the second poorest country in water on the planet, the situation is alarming and the water shortage weighs on the daily life of the inhabitants.
Reporting.
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When he washes the dishes, Fares has to count every drop.
In the city of Zarqa where he lives, about twenty kilometers from Amman, water deliveries are increasingly rare and increasingly scarce.
“
When the water arrives, you can only receive one cubic meter, because the flow is very low,”
explains Fares.
It's not even enough to drink.
If we want to live normally, I think we would need 20 cubic meters per month, because there are ten of us here.
"
As a result, families regularly have to buy tanks from private companies, which are particularly expensive. "
If we had government water like in other parts of the country, a family like us would pay maybe 5 or 10 dinars a month,"
says Fares.
But we have to pay 100 dinars per month, which is ten times more. And if we compare with our income in Jordan, it is almost half of our salary.
"
But in the district of Fares, not all residents can pay such sums. They are ten living with Abu Shaher, and in his home the shortages are increasing. “
Nobody has money,
” he said.
We have no money to buy water tanks from private companies and delivery delays are piling up day by day. We can only use very little water and that puts us in a situation of great suffering.
"
Jordanian authorities have revealed that 6 of the country's 17 dams are dry and a seventh should even follow within a few weeks.
Without help, Jordan could only provide water to two million people, while its population is 10 million.
In 2020, the government launched a Red Sea desalination plan.
But the project should not be completed before 2026. The only short-term solution to fill the reservoirs: the return of rain.
► To read also: The State of Israel will double the quantity of water supplied to Jordan
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Water
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