Thematic Profile: Water - Jordan Environment Watch

The Jordanian Environmental Monitor (JEM) will publish a series of thematic profile on major environmental issues in Jordan. The first of this series is about water. The information contained in this essay has been collected and processed from official and academic sources updated to the middle of 2005.

Jordan is classified among few countries of the world with limited water resources and it is one of the lowest on a per capita basis. The available water resources per capita are falling as a result of population growth and are projected to fall from less than 160 m³/capita/year at present to about 90 m³/cap/year by 2025, putting

Jordan

in the category of an absolute water shortage. The scarcity of water in

Jordan

is the single most important constrains to the country growth and development because water is not only considered a factor for food production but a very crucial factor of health, survival and social and economical development. As a result of scarcity, the demands and uses of water are far exceeding renewable supply. The deficit is made up by the unsustainable use of groundwater through overdrawing of highland aquifers, resulting in lowered water table in many basins and declining water quality in some. In addition to that, the deficit is overcome also by supply rationing to the domestic and the agricultural sectors.

Water resources consist of surface and ground water, with reclaimed wastewater being used at an increasing scale for irrigation. Water desalination water has also become an optional source where 40 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) are presently produced from over 10 desalination plants for domestic supply and about 9 MCM for irrigation. Renewable water resources are estimated at about 840 MCM per annum, including 280 MCM of groundwater and 560 MCM of potentially exploitable surface water. An additional amount of 143 MCM is estimated to be available from the non renewable aquifers. The volume of effluent from the different wastewater treatment plants was estimated to range from 75 to 80 MCM in the year 2004.

Surface Water Resources

Surface water resources vary considerably between seasons and years. The long-term average annual base flow is about 328 MCM and flood flow of about 334 MCM giving a total average surface flow of about 690 MCM per year. Of these renewable surface water resources, an estimated 505 MCM are useable or can be economically developed. The Dead Sea basins are located in the most humid part of the country and mostly characterized by base flow and spring discharge as well as flood flow. The main source of surface water at the present time is the Yarmouk River followed by Zarqa River. Yarmouk basin is shared between Jordan and Syria with one third of the long term average surface runoff within

Jordan

. The next most potential surface water basin is Zarqa River Basin where the major wastewater treatment plant, Khirbit as-Samra, is located. The flow in River Jordan, which was one of the main water resources prior to the control of releases from Lake Tiberia by Israel in 1964, has dropped to trickle except during flood season when the lake is full. The water of most of the rivers and wadis draining water towards the Dead Sea basin are being utilized or stored by some nine reservoirs with a total capacity of 221 MCM. The major reservoirs are King Talal Reservoir (KTR) with storage capacity of 85 MCM followed by Wadi el-Arab and Tanour dams; each with a capacity of about 17 MCM. On the Yarmouk, the unity dam is being constructed with a reservoir capacity of 110 MCM expandable to 225 MCM in the future. There are 18 desert dams storing about 31 MCM for the purpose of animal watering and artificial groundwater recharge. In addition, there are a number of water harvesting projects that utilize the surface water in forms of large ponds and small earth reservoirs.

Water Demand in Jordan

Water uses vary from year to year depending on the available surface water supply which is decreasing due to upstream uses and climatic fluctuations. According to available water supplies, a total of 520 MCM in 2003 were used in agriculture (representing about 63.5 % of the total water use); the domestic sector consumed 270 MCM (32.5 %); industry share was only 36 MCM (4 %).

The municipal water demand is growing rapidly faster than the population growth but due to system capacity and limited supply, the actual demand has never been met. The total amount that have been pumped to municipal uses in 2004 reached 270 MCM which indicated that the annual per capita share of water for domestic uses was only 50 m³/capita/year. This low amount averages a daily supply of 137 liter/capita/day. To overcome the shortage and gap between supply and demand, water consumption is rationed by rotating supplies and providing intermittent services during most of the dry months.