Water Scarcity in Jordan is Damaging its Economy
New Hopes for Disi Water Conveyance and Red Sea - Dead Sea Projects
Apr 17, 2009
Jordan has one of the world’s lowest levels of water resources available, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of water availability.
Water Scarcity in Jordan
There is increasing strain on a system heavily reliant on water from the Jordan River basin but with few other natural resources to utilise. An expanding population, decrease in annual rainfall and a growing building and industrial sector have only exacerbated the situation.
Jordan's Water Per Capita
The Kingdom’s water per capita has dropped from 3,600 cubic metres in 1946 to less than 140 cubic metres today. This figure represents around 14 per cent less than the world’s water poverty line (Jordanian Society for the Conservation of Water).
Jordan's Agriculture
Agriculture uses over 60 percent of the country’s fresh water in the production of food according to Amer Salam and Emad Karablieh in the Middle East Quarterly (spring 2008). They said: “It takes 1,000 tons of water to produce one ton of wheat and wheat is not particularly water intensive.” Agriculture currently produces only 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Official Jordanian government figures show:
- Ninty-one percent of Jordan’s total area of 97,000 kilometres is arid ground with annual rainfall average of 50-200 millimetres.
- Two point nine percent is semi-arid with an annual rainfall average of 400-500 millimetres.
United Nations (UN) Water Development Report III
This recently published report (March 2009) has highlighted the effect on the Jordanian economy of water scarcity. Groundwater depletion has cost the country 2.1 per cent of GDP over the past few years. The UN warned that the renewable and, more worryingly, the non-renewable groundwater reserves appear to have: “Negatively impacted the country’s economic productivity.” With such dire warnings from both the UN and the WHO, the need for a solution grows more urgent. It’s essential to ensure first of all that Jordanian citizens have enough to drink and also that there is enough water to allow the economy to drive forward.
The Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud said: The water issue is no longer a national or regional issue but an international source of concern in light of global warming and worldwide water shortages.”
Disi Water Conveyance Project and Red Dead Project
Looking to the future Abu Saud said, “The Ministry seeks to implement strategic and vital water projects to address the rise in demand, including the Disi Water Conveyance Project and the Red Dead Canal and water desalination schemes.”
- The Disi Water Conveyance Project is a large-scale project to pump water from the Disi aquifer situated close to the Saudi Arabian border.
- The Red Dead canal (a tunnel has also been discussed) is at present a feasibility study by the World Bank but if implemented would take water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea and provide water for Jordan and Israel through the desalination process.
The government has ambitious plans for the future, providing the Disi and the Red Dead projects come to fruition, they hope to increase water capacity from 130m cubic metres to 240m cubic metres by 2020.
The more immediate goals however are to improve conservation and water treatment. Up to 51 per cent of water is wasted in Jordan and around 50 per cent of the country is not connected to a sewerage system (Anima Investment Network June 2008).
Sources:
World Health Organisation, The Health and Environment Linkages Initiative (HELI) 2009
United Nations World Water Development Report III, Water in a Changing World March 2009
Jordanian Society for the Conservation of Water
Jordan Times, Groundwater Depletion, 17 April 2009
Anima Investment Network, Water Scarcity places Jordan’s economic growth at risk, June 2008
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