Amman-
Damascus' refusal to supply Amman with 30 million cubic meters of water has compounded the crisis that Jordan is experiencing as a result of water shortages.
In light of the increasing water need in the summer season, which is the driest and water-poorest on Jordan, according to experts.
Drought caused by climatic changes and declining rainfall, and the authorities are facing it with a package of short and long-term measures to provide additional quantities of water, in light of a water deficit of about 370 million cubic meters this year, of which 60 million cubic meters are designated for drinking.
The Jordanian authorities have purchased 50 million cubic meters of water from the Israeli side, which is pumped from Lake Tiberias to Jordan for drinking and irrigation purposes.
Under the Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement, Jordan will receive 55 million cubic meters of water from the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers, at a price of one cent per meter.
Jordan is linked to its water relations with neighboring countries with two important agreements, the joint Arab agreement to manage the waters of the Yarmouk Basin between Jordan and Syria, signed in 1953 and amended in 1987, and the Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement signed in 1994.
Removing an attack on water networks in Zarqa Governorate as part of the authorities' efforts to conserve water (Al Jazeera)
Jordan share
The Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation, Muhammad al-Najjar, sent a letter to his Syrian counterpart in mid-May asking to provide his country with 30 million cubic meters of water.
Under the "Arab Joint Agreement" previously signed between the two parties;
Jordan's share of the Yarmouk River basin's water is 200 million cubic meters annually, according to a Jordanian official source. 40 dams to retain water, expand the cultivation of lands in southern Syria, and dig thousands of underground wells;
This is contrary to the agreements between the two sides.
Despite the state of detente in diplomatic, political and economic relations between the two countries during the last period, the opening of the land borders, and the exchange of meetings between the ministers of the two countries, but the file of water and Jordan's water rights in the Yarmouk Basin "was not brought up for discussion," according to an official Jordanian source.
Jordanian trucks returning from the Syrian side after opening the border crossing between the two countries last year (Al-Jazeera)
Migrations and attacks
The reasons for the drought and water scarcity that Jordan is going through are many, and the most important reasons - according to the expert in the water sector Elias Salameh in his interview with Al Jazeera Net - are:
The Kingdom's geographical location is in a semi-arid region.
Forced migrations from neighboring countries over the previous decades.
Increasing population numbers, which currently reached 10 million, which raised the demand for water.
The aggressions of neighboring countries "Syria and Israel" on Jordan's water rights in the Yarmouk Basin and the Jordan River, and the underground wells in southern Jordan.
The water decision-makers in Jordan have been late in developing a water strategy that defines the Kingdom’s increasing requirements and works to find new sources, especially the dependence of former officials on the completion of the “Bahrain Transporter” project between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, which was subjected to Israeli intransigence and rejection, which confused Jordan’s calculations and plans.
Salameh believes that the permanent and long-term solution to the water crisis in Jordan is through desalinating the Red Sea water in the Gulf of Aqaba in southern Jordan, provided that the national project to desalinate 600 million cubic meters annually, while the plan of the Ministry of Water to desalinate 300 million cubic meters will not constitute a permanent solution.
The Ministry of Water and Irrigation has allocated financial expenditures of $400 million to reduce water losses in various governorates. This effort includes modernizing and strengthening networks, controlling thefts, and prudent water management during the years 2021 and 2022.
Farmers complain about the effects of drought on their crops (Al-Jazeera)
modern agriculture
According to the former Minister of Agriculture, Akef Al-Zoubi, Jordan's water share from the Yarmouk River Basin, according to the agreements, is 206 million cubic meters annually, but the actual amount ranges between 10 and 30 million cubic meters annually according to the rainy season, which requires Jordan to "take Arab or international action to hold accountable The Syrian authorities are on that,” he said.
Al-Zoubi believes that Jordan's options in facing the drought crisis are:
Desalination of the Red Sea water in the south, and pumping desalinated water to the governorates of the Kingdom, provided that clean electrical energy generated from the sun is used, because the electricity generated from gas and oil will raise the cost of desalinated water prices.
Extraction, treatment and use of deep groundwater for agriculture and drinking.
Reducing losses from worn out networks, and confronting attacks on main carrier lines.
The use of modern agricultural methods and techniques using "hydroponic" techniques that reduce water use by 80% and encourage farmers to use them and give them loans at low interest rates.
Establishing a program for the economic regulation of agricultural production that regulates the process of agricultural production of high economic value.
During the past and current years, Jordan has witnessed a drought in the dams in the southern governorates, affecting the dams of Al-Wala, Al-Mujib, Al-Tanour, Shuaib and others. With the advent of summer, the demand for water rises, reaching an average of 3 million cubic meters per day, while the quantities in the dams currently do not exceed 75 million cubic meters out of 285 million cubic meters (its storage capacity).
Campaigns of the Jordanian Ministry of Water to remove attacks on water sources (Al-Jazeera)
government plans
Officially, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation has prepared plans to provide new water sources, according to Omar Salama, Assistant Secretary-General of the Ministry of Water.
Salama explained - in a statement to Al Jazeera Net - that the ministry relies on digging new groundwater wells, renting wells from their owners, rehabilitating existing wells, transferring water from the north to the central and southern governorates, searching for new and unconventional water sources, implementing the national carrier project, and limiting from wastage.
The 14 Jordanian dams lack surface water sources of nutrition, with the exception of the Al-Wahda and King Talal dams, in addition to a significant decrease in the flow of water in the Yarmouk River due to the expansion of the Syrian side by building dams there.
Jordan and Israel signed - under the auspices of the UAE - an agreement of declaration of intent for a joint project between the two countries, through which Jordan will be supplied with its desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea to the Israeli side, and the Israelis will be provided with electric power from solar energy projects in the Jordanian desert in the south of the Kingdom.