Amman-
For the second year in a row, the waters of the Mujib Dam in southern Jordan have dried up, which has led to a scarcity of drinking water in the southern governorates, the withering of irrigated crops from its water, the desertification of green lands around it, and the migration of farmers to their lands.
Despite the heavy rainfall during the last winter season in Jordan, the dams in the southern regions did not record significant storage quantities, so the dryness of the dams returned to hit the southern governorates, especially the Al-Tanour, Al-Mujib and Wadi Shuaib dams in the center, and the Al-Wala dam, which is prone to drought during the current summer.
According to Ministry of Water figures, the quantities of water stored in the Mujib Dam at the end of the rainy season last March amounted to 800,000 cubic meters out of its full storage capacity of 25 million cubic metres.
Until last week, the quantities of water were recorded at 350,000 cubic metres, and as a result, the cadres of the ministry stopped withdrawing water from the dam that was intended for drinking purposes, and supplied the remaining quantities to farmers and the Arab Potash Company for Industry.
In the face of drought and shortage of drinking water, the Jordanian authorities - according to the Jordanian Ministry of Water - are buying double quantities of water from the Israeli side by 50 million cubic metres, noting that the Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement allocated to Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water from the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers supplied by the Israeli side from Lake Tiberias for the Kingdom according to previously agreed plans.
waiting for jail
On the dry outskirts of the dam, the 40-year-old farmer, Muhammad Zureikat, moves between his summer crops, which include fields of tomatoes, melons and watermelons, which dried up due to the scarcity of watering and were gnawed by pests after he stopped spraying and caring for them.
Farmers check their losses (Al Jazeera)
Zureikat told Al Jazeera Net, "I plant annually about 200 dunams (a dunam of one thousand square metres) with field crops, and I have no job to live from and my family except agriculture, and if I stop, I will be imprisoned for not being able to pay my financial obligations to the agricultural marketing companies that provide us with agricultural supplies until the harvest."
He added that in 2019, he incurred losses worth 34,000 dinars ($47,000) as a result of the low prices of vegetables due to the large supply, and the last season 2021 suffered losses of 10,000 dinars ($14,000) as a result of the dam's drought, and in this season, the losses until today are no less than 30. One thousand dinars (42 thousand dollars) in the farms.
wholesale losses
Sixty-year-old farmer Jamal al-Salaita looks after farms for fruit trees. These farms contain guava, pomegranate, grapes, cherry, lemon and other trees, in addition to planting about 80 dunums of seasonal field crops.
Al-Salaita holds in his hand a letter addressed to the Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Al-Hanaifat, to the Minister of Water and Irrigation, Muhammad Al-Najjar, allowing the drilling of an artesian water well to feed the crops. Al-Salaita for Al-Jazeera Net.
Bahrain carrier
The 50-year-old farmer Abdullah Al-Rawahna is almost better off than his predecessors, as he did not cultivate his land during the summer agricultural period, and kept it empty for livestock after witnessing the drought in the dam’s water at the end of the rainy season.
Al-Rawahna says to Al-Jazeera Net, "Stopping cultivation costs me more than 10 thousand dinars (14,000 dollars), which are debts owed from previous agricultural cycles, but my cultivation of the summer lug with this drought will increase my losses by 20 thousand dinars (28 thousand dollars), so I preferred to stop." Waiting for the rainy season.
In order to confront drought and the lack of drinking water and agriculture, Jordan signed an agreement with the Israeli side under US and international sponsorship to implement the Bahrain Conveyor Project in 1998, whereby the Red Sea water would be transported south towards the Dead Sea in the north by 270 km, in order to secure drinking water for the Kingdom, the Israeli side, and Palestine, and to preserve the Dead Sea from Drought.
But the Israeli side refused to implement the joint project, which prompted Jordan to implement its “national carrier” project by desalinating the Red Sea water and transferring it to the Jordanian governorates in the north, and it is expected that the water will start arriving in 2027.
gas and water
In turn, water expert Duraid Al-Mahasneh believes that Jordan had to pressure the Israeli side to implement the "Red-Dead" Bahrain tanker project before implementing the project to import natural gas from Israel, as water is necessary as an energy necessity.
Mahasneh explained that "Jordan obtains its water rights from the Israeli side, according to the peace agreement, from the waters of the Jordan River by 50 million cubic meters, and due to droughts, Jordan buys an additional 50 million cubic meters from Israel."
He continued, "Jordan must also pressure the Syrian side to obtain our agreed water rights from the Yarmouk River Basin, estimated at 400 million cubic metres, and the Unity Dam was built in the north of the Kingdom to store those quantities, but the Syrian side is not implementing the agreement, and therefore the store in the Unity dam is currently 16 million cubic metres. only cubic metres.
Most of the Kingdom’s dams lack surface water sources of nutrition, with the exception of the Al-Wahda and King Talal dams, in addition to the significant decrease in the flow of water in the Yarmouk River due to the expansion of the Syrian side by establishing dams there, in contrast to its agreement with Jordan, as 46 dams are currently being built on the Yarmouk River basin, while Previously, the agreement between the two countries was to build 28 dams, according to experts.
modest storage of dams
In terms of numbers, the stock of what the 14 main Jordanian dams collected at the end of the rainy season last March amounted to 90 million cubic meters, or 33% of its total storage capacity of 280 million cubic meters, according to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, while 74 million are currently available in dams. cubic meters, at a rate of 26%, which is low compared to last year, when it amounted to 75 million cubic meters.
In turn, Omar Salama, Assistant Secretary-General of the Ministry of Water for Information, attributed the drought situation in the southern dams to “the decline in rainfall during the last season due to climatic changes, fluctuation in the distribution of rainfall over regions and their concentration in the north of the Kingdom, high temperatures, divergence of precipitation over time, and a severe drop in temperatures.” Winter heat without sequential heavy precipitation.
Salama added to Al Jazeera Net that the rainfall was "modest in most areas, with the exception of the northern region by 75%, while the southern regions recorded a precipitation rate of 47% with a high rate of evaporation in them and the failure of these precipitations to reach the dams."
declaration of intent
Politically, political analyst Munther Al-Hawarat believes that Israel's refusal to implement the "Red-Dead" conveyor project came to implement strategic projects that strengthen its economy and mortgage the future of Jordanian waters in its own hands. This was clearly demonstrated by the declaration of intent signed last year between the two sides to exchange energy and water.
The exit of the Mujib dam and drought seems to be the master of the situation (Al-Jazeera)
He continued the dialogues that Jordan's crises with water, climate change and energy are not a result of today, but rather from decades, but the absence of national strategic projects and the reluctance of successive governments to stand up to their responsibilities to address these problems make Jordan resort to the Zionist entity to solve its problems.
The dialogues express "regret for relying on the Israeli occupation in several areas, the most important of which are energy, natural gas import projects, transportation through the ports of occupied Palestine, and water by purchasing additional quantities of our stolen rights in the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers, in addition to talking about joint security agreements."