Water in Jordan and Jordan's internal water policy
(articles appear in reverse chronological order)

2001

2000 1999



Rain raises water level in dams, but not to 'normal' levels (Jordan Times, 29/01/01)
The past week's downpour of rain has helped raise the water level in Jordan's dams but it was not enough to reach the average levels of water received in normal years, a Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) official said on Sunday.
Jordan's dams currently contain 30.5mcm of water — amounting to only around 16 per cent of the total storage capacity of 187mcm of the country's dams.
Dams in the Jordan Valley up till now contain 25.5mcm, and 16 smaller dams and ponds in the badia region have collected the remaining 5mcm.
"At this time of the year, at average conditions, water stored in dams should amount to 30 per cent. In good years, it should even reach 50 per cent of the total storage capacity," said JVA Secretary General Thafer Alam.
The water collected in King Talal Dam currently amounts to 11.5mcm, Wadi Al Arab now has 8.2mcm, Kafrein increased its storage to 1.4mcm, Shurahbeel Dam contains 1.7mcm, Karameh Dam now stores 1.5mcm and Shuaib Dam now contains 1.4mcm.
Still, Alam said, there was "hope" for a good season as most of rainfall can be expected during February, as is usually the case.
To cope with the threatening water scarcity each summer, a rigorous water rationing schedule has been put in place according to which households are supplied with water once or twice a week.
Farmers in the Jordan Valley, who completely depend on irrigation to produce, normally receive water twice a week for 12 or 18 hours depending on water pressure prevailing in the respective area, size of the farm unit and the crops planted.
While tentative water rationing schedules for the summer are altered every month according to rainfall received and depending on estimates of water availabity during summer, the rationing plan for cities generally remains unchanged because "drinking water supply to municipalities has priority," according to Alam.


Water conservation programme relies on message of religious texts (Jordan Times, 17/01/2001)
Using religion as a basis to raise awareness about water conservation is the main idea of a new 18-month Water Efficiency and Public Information for Action (WEPIA) programme which kicked off this January, said a WEPIA official on Tuesday.  “Religious leaders are respected persons in society. Worshippers will take it [the need to conserve water] from them,” said Rula Keilani from the Jordan Environment Society at the sidelines of brainstorming session with female employees of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and members of several women's' committees. “Saving water is a very important topic in the Holy Koran. Therefore, it is easy to build on this basis to promote water conservation,” WEPIA employee Mutassem Haddadin, who works on the project, told the Jordan Times.
    The USAID-funded programme, which operates in cooperation with the Ministry Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the Jordan Environment Society, trains religious leaders, both Muslim as well as Christians, about the urgent need to conserve water so that they will in turn disseminate this information in their respective communities. Besides religious leaders, male and female laymen society leaders will be educated to train others people about the urgent need to conserve water and introduce them about available water conserving devices that could be applied in the day-to-day life.
    Although Jordan's daily per capita consumption of water is relatively low — it is estimated between 70 to 75 litres per day — it is the rapidly growing municipal sector and its ever-growing water demand that necessitates targeting women, the core group responsible for households. “Households need a lot of water, therefore, it is women who can contribute a lot to water conservation,” Keilani said. Besides convincing citizens of the necessity to conserve water because of the country's dire outlook with regards to its diminishing resources, economic benefits are believed to be highly persuasive. “By cutting down on water, people will feel it both on their water bills and on their electric and fuel bills as heating water consumes also electricity or fuel,” Haddadin said.  According to Haddadin, it is simple and low-cost devices that can help a great deal with regards to water conservation. Special devices for the shower heads and taps and different toilet flushing systems could reduce domestic water consumption by around 50 per cent. “Water saving devices for shower heads could reduce the water flow rate from an average 20 litres per minute down to only 8.5 to nine litres. Saving devices attached at taps could reduce the flow rate from 12 down to six litres per minute. And modern toilet flushing systems could function using only six instead of 12 litres as usually is the case in Jordan,” Haddadin said.
    The programme is part of a three-year project targeting the reduction of waste of water trough promoting water saving devices. Neither USAID nor WEPIA could not provide information on the cost of the project.


GAM: Broken pipes cause water leak at 5th Circle troubles. Water Authority: Source of leak not found (Jordan Times, 10/01/2001)
By Oula Al Farawati
    The Greater Amman Municipality and the Water Authority on Tuesday gave contradictory statements pertaining to whether or not they were able to find the source of a water leakage at the Fifth Circle.
    While GAM sources said the authority found the water leakage source on Monday evening, the Water Authority said it is still investigating the source and has not found it yet.
    The water leakage was discovered on Tuesday evening. Since then, Water Authority and GAM experts and engineers have been examining the site.
    One GAM source said the leakage is minor, and the water is leaking from a joint between two water pipes in the facility.
    “The leakage might be from a manhole or a pipe, we still do not know,” said a source from the Water Authority, adding that the source was still undetermined.
    “The GAM might also have, by mistake, broken a water pipe at the facility when they were putting the backfilling,” he added.
    The circle and the newly- built two tunnels underneath it have been closed several times over the last month. Motorists have voiced fears that the tunnel might collapse. Both sources confirmed that the safety of the tunnel is not compromised.
    “The water leakage would not create any problem unless it keeps [leaking] for years,” said the GAM source.
    The GAM source earlier said the municipality has given itself a week to discover the leakage source fearing that leakage might lead to the asphalt disintegrating and sinking and thus affecting the structure of the underpass.
    However, the GAM source said that traffic flow was not affected in the facility and the GAM has not closed any of the lanes inside the tunnel or above it. He added that they would not close the tunnels or the circle if they were to mend the leaking water pipe, that he said is leaking.
    However, the same source had told the Jordan Times when water started leaking that water pipes at the facility were strong and could not be broken since they are reinforced by concrete.
    An informed GAM source had told the Jordan Times that the municipality had to finish the construction of the new intersection quickly due to the visit of Libyan President Muammar Qadhafi who visited the Kingdom in October. The GAM said in mid-August it was finishing the facility in 40 per cent less time than was originally predicted.
    The backfilling of the facility, a task the GAM usually performs, might have been executed improperly and not according to technical specs, including giving sufficient time for the soil to settle properly. Civil engineering sources told the Jordan Times that this has led to “differential settlement” or bulges and water leaks.


Decentralised wastewater treatment considered better all-around (Jordan Times, 07/11/00)
By Dana Charkasi
    Decentralising wastewater treatment is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to help small communities in remote areas deal with their wastewater, said a government official on Monday .
    In Jordan, 52 per cent of households are connected to the sewerage system. The rest of the households, mainly in small remote rural areas, dispose of their sewage in cesspools or septic tanks. It is in these remote areas that decentralised wastewater treatment can be beneficially applied, according to Mohammad Najjar, director of the wastewater projects directorate at the Water Authority.
    Setting up a single treatment plant to serve a cluster of communities might initially appear cheaper with regards to investment costs than constructing several to serve their respective communities, Najjar said.
    But, the lower operation costs of decentralised treatment plants and the amount of money saved by using much less water for transporting wastewater to its final destinations would soon outnumber the initial savings generated by the setting up of only one treatment plant, Najjar told the Jordan Times. He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of international experts on `Appropriate and Innovative Wastewater Management for Small Communities in the Eastern Mediterranean Countries.' “Maybe it looks feasible to go for centralised [wastewater] treatment because we are building one treatment plant, which is cheaper than building several treatment plants... but the savings is quickly overtaken by the large investments needed for the collection system and the transportation of waste [to the remote treatment plant] and [additionally], sometimes you need pumping [stations],” he said.
    Applying decentralised wastewater treatment systems not only suits cost and water resource constraints in the region, but also minimises environmental risks, said to be another argument in favour of this system. “If you take the example of a city of two million people, if all the city is clustered together, and the wastewater is going out to one single treatment plant, if the treatment plant malfunctions, then the environmental cost of that malfunction is so high, you have a flood of wastewater of two million people destroying your environment. If you have smaller systems serving the two million people, the magnitude of damage that can be caused by one unit is smaller, and the chances that 20 treatment plants will fail at the same time is much less... that's how you reduce the environmental risk,” said Hamed Bakir, WHO's Centre for Environmental Health Activities (CEHA) advisor on rural and environmental health.
    While there are several advantages of decentralised wastewater management, the system still faces one serious hindrance — there is yet little awareness of techniques available in this type of wastewater treatment system.
    “To introduce an alternative solution like decentralised treatment is against common knowledge and it takes a lot of education to change the minds of engineers. We need to introduce educational programmes at universities, training programmes so that the practising engineers start to learn more about these approaches. The science of wastewater management has been so conservative. Everything scientific has developed except wastewater management,” Bakir said.
    The four-day meeting, organised by CEHA aims at finding a strategy for developing systems for wastewater services in small communities in the region. During the workshop, 25 regional experts are looking at the constraints, opportunities, and the different factors that determine what kind of wastewater services should be developed in the respective countries, as well as ways and means to promote their application.


Project searches for underground water in `hot spots' (Jordan Times, 07/11/2000)
By Ann Furr (The author is a member of the US Peace Corps, working with the Jordan Badia Research and Development Programme.)
    At 4:00 am on Oct. 30, Musajad Hussein of the Geology Department of Yarmouk University and Wael Azaizeh, UNESCO chair, faculty of science, Yarmouk University, loaded their equipment into the truck provided by the Jordan Badia Research and Development Programme in Safawi to go into the desert to search for water.
    The project began a year-and-a-half ago with satellite images of the desert that show “hot spots” — places where water might be found in the harsh desert landscape.
    With the help of the personnel at the Jordan Badia Research and Development Programme, the scientists located these remote sites and began their research.
    The Eastern Badia area of Jordan has quantities of water located a few metres under the ground. It is almost as if the badia, a parched and arid home to the bedouin, is floating on an underground sea. The rain falls in Syria, sinks into the earth, and flows in pipes created by long-dead volcanoes under the eastern portion of Jordan, finally surfacing in Saudi Arabia. By the time the water surfaces in Saudi Arabia it is too salty to use and it evaporates, leaving only salt pans.
    If these underground reserves could be harnessed, they could provide needed water for the people of the badia region.
    The work of the scientists is now to determine whether water actually exists in the “hot spots” and to measure the salinity of the water. Their research is hard physical labour, requiring travel about 60 teeth-jarring kilometres across the basalt of the desert to the “hot spot,” always leaving before dawn to avoid the desert heat.
    Aeons ago, volcanoes covered the badia with a sheet of basalt. After weathering, the sheet broke into fairly uniform pieces; so now the landscape looks like fields with black rocks growing in them, an agricultural project with flourishing fields of basalt. When the scientists arrive at the “hot spot,” they use a sledgehammer to drive iron stakes into the earth at measured intervals and then a resistance meter to determine the presence of water and the salinity of the water. After moving the stakes from point to point and taking several readings, on this day they found water, but unfortunately the negative reading on the meter indicated that the water in this particular spot was already too salty to be useful.
    The backbreaking work of their research has, however, been fruitful, for they have found several sites with fresh water and work will begin soon to drill wells to harvest the water that might otherwise turn salty and go to waste on its long trip.
    The existence of the Jordan Badia Research and Development Programme provides a base from which scientists can conduct this important research. Through the cooperation of the scientific communities and the often backbreaking work of scientists, water will be found and harvested and the lives of those in the Eastern Badia will be enhanced.


Winter rainfall expected to reach seasonal average (Jordan Times, 27/10/2000)
This winter's rainfall is expected to be near or above normal, whereas last year it reached only 54 per cent of the annual average, a senior official said on Thursday. Last year, the Kingdom received a total of 4,600 million cubic metres of rainfall. “This season, however, Jordan is likely to receive 8,500 million cubic metres of water as its rainfall is expected to be around seasonal average or even above,” Haiham Shaer, the Department of Meteorology director general, told the Jordan.
Rain in the winter season ranges from 600 millimetres in the north and 30 millimetres in the south.
Since mid-October this year, rainfall has reached maximum levels at Baqoura, with 46.2 millimetres, followed by 42.6 millimetres in Ajloun and 33.7 millimetres at Deir Alla, whereas the minimum of nil was registered at Aqaba and Maan, according to Shaer.
“Last year, the highest rainfall in October was registered in Ajloun, where it reached no more than 4.8 millimetres,” said Shaer.
The Queen Alia International Airport, until now, has received 25 millimetres, compared to none in the same period last year, he said.
The south of the country last winter received only 20-30 per cent of the seasonal average, while the figures stood at 50 per cent for the central region and 90 per cent for the north.
Jordan has been subject to a relative drought since 1993, but 1998, 1999 and 2000 have been the most severe years, experts said. “However, we cannot say that the drought is over, as weather always fluctuates,” Shaer said.
Meanwhile, in preparations for winter, the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company announced recently that it has stored sufficient stock of gas and other oil products for heating needs.
The daily quantity of gas consumed locally in the winter season is around 650 tonnes, of which 450 tonnes are produced by the company and 200 are imported from Iraq.
The weather over the next three days is expected to be stable, partly cloudy and slightly cold. It is predicted that temperatures will rise slightly to reach their seasonal average.


Arab agriculture sector needs technical rehab, training (Jordan Times, 13/10/2000)
By Khalid Dalal
   Jordan will celebrate Arab Agriculture Day on Sunday, said a senior official at the Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development (AOAD) office in Amman on Thursday.
    The celebration, organised by the AOAD in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, will focus, as its title says, on the “Technical Rehabilitation of Arab Agricultural Workers as a Necessity to Achieve Food Security,” according to Salem Louzi, head of AOAD, Amman. “There are around 29 million Arab people who work in the agricultural sector, a tremendous number who need technical rehabilitation and training on a daily basis to be in line with new global agricultural changes,” he said.
    Letters of appreciation will be handed out in the function to several Jordanian agricultural officials and farmers who have made unique contributions to the sector locally.
    The organisation began marking Arab Agricultural Day annually in 1998. The event usually takes place on Sept. 27, however, “it is up to each Arab country to define its own day of celebration,” Louzi added. Consequently, Jordan is to mark the day on Oct. 15. The official regarded the Arab agricultural status quo as “imperfect.” This has come about because of the disparity between the oil economies and non-oil economies of various countries in the Arab world, where some have to rely on human and natural resources only. However, “the previous fact can also be considered a [compelling] reason for [establishing] Arab agricultural integration,” he hoped. According to Louzi, the Arab-Arab food and agricultural commercial exchange forms only eight per cent of the Arab-international agricultural trade.
    Drought and scarcity of water are the primary reasons seriously affecting the overall Arab agricultural production in the last half of the decade, experts believe.
    The event, patronised by Minister of Agriculture Zuhair Zannouneh, will be held at the National Centre for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer in Baqaa.


Agriculture Ministry studies use of treated wastewater in irrigation. Fodder crops, timber would zap toxins from water and help preserve soil, officials say(Jordan Times, 11/10/2000)
By Dana Charkasi
    Jordan is testing the use of undiluted treated wastewater in irrigation in a bid to help alleviate the country's chronic and steadily growing water shortage, a government official said on Monday.
    In a five-year project that started in May, the Ministry of Agriculture is testing the irrigation of timber wood and various green fodder plants with undiluted treated wastewater.
    With the increasing demand for freshwater in cities in tandem with the rapidly growing urban sector, it is estimated that by 2020 the effluents of Jordan's municipalities will mount to 830,000 cubic metres daily compared to 240,000 cubic metres at present.
    This amount of water could irrigate an additional area of 80,000 dunums per year and should be used in an economically feasible way.
    “We want to use this type of water to irrigate fodder crops and wood timber, both of which we are badly in need,” Munthir Kharraz, director of the Ministry of Agriculture's land and irrigation department told the Jordan Times on Monday.
    Currently, 8.5 per cent of the country's total irrigated lands are irrigated with wastewater blended with higher quality water, consuming 80 per cent of all wastewater generated in Jordan.
    The use of timber wood and various fodder plants has another advantage besides utilising treated wastewater and providing the raw material for wooden box production for industry and the production of plant coal.
    According to Kharraz, timber wood can extract 80 to 90 per cent of toxic heavy metals from the soil, a problem said to be widespread in Jordan.
    “We can introduce it in areas where we have problems with toxic heavy metals in the soil. And [we can] use it as a crop for reclamation purposes. [By planting timber wood] we reclaim soil. After that the farmer can shift to the other crops he likes [to plant],” Kharraz said.
    However, the plan to use timber wood to extract toxic heavy metals from the soil could prove difficult since there is insufficient data about the specific areas where the problem is concentrated.
    “It is difficult to say where these areas are, because we don't have sufficient information about the accumulation of toxic heavy metal status in irrigated land. I don't know exactly where they are. Therefore, we should assess the status of toxic heavy metals accumulated in the soil of irrigated lands,” Kharraz admitted.
    Fodder plants, such as “rye grass” also withstand the low quality of treated wastewater and have the positive ability to extract large amounts of nitrogen available in treated wastewater.
    “By planting rye grass we mitigate the pollution of ground water by preventing much of the nitrogen [from trickling into the ground],” Kharraz said.
    Fears that treated wastewater may have a negative impact on the quality of the crop and consequently on the quality of the animals produced are diminishing.
    Analysis of milk from sheep fed by such grass indicates a negligible level of toxic residues, according to Kharraz.
    A second part of the initiative includes the experimental use of bio-solids for the production of bio-gas.
    The World Bank and the European Union are financing the project entitled “Initiative for collaboration to control natural resources degradation” to the tune of $80,000.


Wadi Musa to be connected to new sewerage system (Jordan Times, 28/09/2000)
The Municipality of Wadi Musa is on its way to getting connected to modern sewerage systems after decades of depending on septic tanks, officials said on Wednesday.
This week, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation published advertisements in local newspapers asking residents from the Taybeh, Bdoul and Baida (Wadi B) areas to fill out forms to officially launch a sewage system project.
The adverts, which were signed by the ministry of water's secretary general, gave the residents in question a grace period of three months to submit request forms to the Wadi Musa water directorate.
According to the municipality's Deputy Mayor Mohammad Masadeh, around 40 per cent of the area's population will be connected to the sewerage system once main lines and branch lines are installed. The Wadi Musa city's population is between 18,000-20,000.
“Last week, [the Ministry of Water's] Secretary General Munther Khleifat told us that three contractors are going to work on this project,” Masadeh told the Jordan Times. “We hope that [Khleifat's] statements materialise.” Khleifat could not be reached for comment.
Masadeh said that in the past, many similar infrastructure projects were started in Wadi Musa, a town bordering the Nabataean city of Petra, but were never completed.
In 1997, Masadeh said, construction took place on a 2,600-km main sewerage line in the Wadi A area, which includes Ain Musa, Nawafdeh, Baseit, Jloukh, Zaitoun, Garara and Thohra.
“The Wadi A project resulted in the construction of branch lines in 63 per cent of the areas, only 30 per cent of which are fully equipped for connection to the main line,” Masadeh said.
Once sewerage networks are installed in the Wadi B zone, hopefully Wadi A areas will follow to connect the entire Wadi Musa to the Rafa Sewage Station, at the Petra city gateway, Masadeh said.


Tenders for Wihdeh Dam to be floated next month (Jordan Times, 24/09/2000)
Tenders for the long-delayed Wihdeh Dam project on the Yarmouk River are scheduled to be floated next month, officials said on Monday.
Water and Irrigation Ministry officials told the Jordan Times that the government expects several international and local companies to bid for the $220 million plan. They declined to specify the exact date for inviting bids.
Construction of the long-awaited project is scheduled to start next year to provide the drought-hit Kingdom with 225 million cubic metres of dam-stored water, as well as generating power for Syria.
Eighty per cent of the planned scheme's cost has been collected from Arab economic funds.
The plan, which suffered a 13-year-old delay because of regional political tensions and lack of funds, is part of the Kingdom's strategy to cope with a chronic water shortage.
Some experts have said setting up a dam on the Yarmouk might not be feasible because the river, which originates in Syria, flows along the two countries' border and then joins the Jordan River downstream from Lake Tiberias, reached its lowest level in recent history last year as a result of a regional drought and the abuse of its water.
Meanwhile, Water and Irrigation Minister Hatem Halawani left for Tehran on a several-day visit for talks with Iranian officials on “their experience in constructing dams and exploiting water resources,” according to an official.
The source gave no further details but said Halawani might meet his Syrian counterpart after he returns from the trip to discuss the Wihdeh Dam and the possibility of renewing a deal under which Damascus pumps 3.5 mcm of water to Amman from mid-August until the end of next month.


Organisation urges large enterprises to employ water saving devices, practices (Jordan Times, 22/03/2000)
In a drought-stricken country, large public and private sector institutions can save the country millions of cubic metres of water if they adopt efficient water saving devices, said a water expert on Wednesday.
Although hotels, hospitals and large educational institutions form only five per cent of the Kingdom's domestic water consuming sector, they actually consume up to 80 per cent of the annual domestic water supply, said Wael Abu Shar, an environmental specialist from the Water Efficiency and Public Information for Action (WEPIA) programme.
The USAID-funded programme was formed earlier this year to promote water saving devices in the country with around $3.8 million allocated for public awareness campaigns, building partnerships with the government and the public sector, and teaching university students and other target groups essential skills to combat non-efficient water use.
Abu Shar said that a thorough WEPIA assessment study identified 506 institutions as major water consumers, 224 of which were from the public sector.
Under the umbrella of WEPIA, a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) comprising representatives from various sectors was formed earlier this year to discuss ways of adopting water saving policies in their own corporations. Yesterday, TAG members agreed that managers and owners of institutions would have the greatest influence on their surroundings once they adopted water-conservation measures.
Two major hotels, one in Amman and the other in Aqaba, were presented as positive examples of efficient water management. Starting with devices installed on water taps and ending with half-tank toilet water flushes, these hotels have been successful in cutting down on the amount of water consumed, and consequently, their water bills.
Mona Grieser, chief of WEPIA, said that passive public attitudes must fundamentally assume responsibility for saving domestic water. "We are going to talk directly to the public about the fact that they should not behave as victims but [to] take charge of their own resources,” Grieser said. She added that the religious leaders can contribute to the cause by incorporating water saving into their own spheres.
However, some participants said that agriculture poses the biggest threat to water resources and should cut down its consumption. The sector consumes around 70 per cent of the country's water, but returns only five per cent to the national economy.
Grieser said that all sectors using water are equally important and that “we should start somewhere.”


Data bank project on water finalised (Jordan Times, 21/09/2000)
A water database project, designed to provide substantive advice to decision-makers, has been finalised, according to a press release from the United Nations Development Fund.
The project, funded by the UNDP, allows the evaluation of economic, social and environmental impacts of water shortage in Jordan and is an essential component of the long-awaited regional water data bank.
“The project, has been instrumental in the establishment and development of a water information system database at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation,” said Iyad Abu Moghli, UNDP assistant resident representative. He added that the database “will allow decision-makers to receive water-related information, any time, without any delay.”
The project, entitled, “Strengthening the National Capacity in Water Resources Planning,” was the nucleus of other water projects implemented with the Water Ministry. “In the past, master planning used to be a cumbersome exercise that requires years of preparation. With this database, master planning has become as easy as a computer mouse click,” Abu Moghli added.
Based on the UNDP's project, other projects were able to develop a comprehensive updated monitoring network plan for the entire Kingdom, the statement said.
This includes water resources and water quality monitoring plans for all surface water basins and ground water aquifers as well as plans for monitoring springs and hydrometeorology.
According to UNDP, the project has enjoyed the cooperation of the U.S. Agency for International Development Water Quality Improvement and Conservation Project and the German Agnecy for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) National Water Master Plan Update Project.
These projects have been absolutely critical to the ministry's long-term water resources planning and management functions supporting Jordan's water resources requirements, the UNDP statement said.
The project has provided software and hardware necessary for the database, and had helped build the capacity of the Water Ministry in data archiving, retrieving, processing, and interpretation.


Flushing of dam may be only short-term solution (Jordan Times, 17/09/2000)
    Although the government acknowledges the problems of high salinity and other hazardous materials in the King Talal Dam, its recent decision to flush them out was a short-term solution, experts said. The Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) last week said it would begin flushing around 1.5 million cubic metres of water from the dam into the Zarqa River as part of a clean-up process. But some experts said the move will not resolve the problem, caused by the Khirbet Al Samra Treatment Plant, currently working over capacity, handling heavy metal refuse from 20 industries in the Zarqa area since the mid-1980s and supplying the dam with “inadequately treated water.” “The government's step came after the dam received an amount of rain water that authorities think will reduce the concentration of such toxic substances [in the dam],” one expert explained. “This is not good enough because the dam will continue to get the same quality of water from the over-taxed plant.”
    The JVA dismissed as inaccurate a recent report in a local newspaper which said the government will get rid of 8.5 mcm of water that “do not meet any standard of use.” The reservoir, the largest in the Kingdom with a storage capacity of 72 million cubic metres, supplies the rift valley crops with water from the Khirbet Al Samra.
    In 1991, authorities shut down more than 10 factories in Zarqa for failing to adhere to environmental protection laws, but all factories resumed operation after only 24 hours. Measures to deal with such violations of environmental laws have not been announced.
    The government last year said it was seeking funds to set up a $145 million wastewater treatment plant in the Khirbet Al Samra area, near Zarqa.
    Last year, authorities stopped pumping water from the King Talal Dam because of high salinity and toxic substances, aggravated by the drought. Small amounts of water from the dam were being used after having been mixed with water from the King Abdullah Canal to irrigate crops in the central Jordan Valley.


24 deputies to petition for action against water well abusers (Jordan Times, 12/09/2000)
    Twenty-four legislators are expected next week to hand House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali a petition asking the government to take “decisive measures” against the abuse of more than 1,500 privately-run water wells.  Lower House of Parliament sources said the lawmakers want the authorities to “control such illicit exploitation of wells and ration their use, ending years of depleting Jordan's strategic reserve.”
    Among the 510 million cubic metres of water pumped from private and public wells, only 275mcm are taken within safe parameters, according to officials.
    Over the past decades, the government allowed landowners to pump water from wells for agricultural and domestic use in areas that have no direct supplies. Each well has an average pumping capacity of 50-100 cubic metres per hour. According to law, owners are required to install metres at all licensed wells to allow the Water Authority to take readings to ensure that the annual quota of 50,000 cubic metres of water each is not surpassed. Violators are required to pay 250 fils per each cubic metre above the set amount. However, over-pumping continues unabated and metres are occasionally reset or broken, while the government appears to be turning a blind eye on reported violations, according to private and official water industry sources, who claimed that of the 1,654 wells, 528 are unlicensed and therefore have no metres.
    Industry sources have said the government will be reluctant to take measures against such action because of several economic and legal considerations and to avoid potential trouble from “influential” well owners.
The deputies were scheduled to discuss the issue with Water and Irrigation Minister Hatem Halawani on Monday, but the meeting was cancelled. Some of them declined to comment, while others could not be reached.
    Water and Irrigation Ministry pokesperson Adnan Zo'bi told the Jordan Times that the ministry, which established a unit to monitor water exploitation of the private wells, “realises the problem and deals with violators in accordance with the law.” He gave no further details, while Halawani was not available for a comment.
    Some water conservationists welcomed the legislators' move, but were “not sure whether it would turn out to be effective.” “We need a miracle to stop such violation permanently and save our water,” said one.
    Drought-hit Jordan relies mainly on rainwater to meet domestic, industrial and agricultural needs, tapped from surface water resources such as rivers, and non-renewable groundwater sources.


`Nor any drop to drink'  (Jordan Times, 01/09/2000)
By Dr Ahmad Y. Majdoubeh
    The good news, regarding the water situation in the country, seems to be three-fold at least. First, we seem to be doing well in spreading the message that water is scarce, and that people need to exercise extreme care and caution in their consumption of it. The governmental statements to the effect, the publication of some significant studies of the matter, and announcements in the press and media about the need to economise have all started to bear fruit, i.e making people amply aware that water is a problem — though, admittedly, much work remains to be done at the level of translating awareness into actual behaviour.
    Secondly, serious plans have been, and are being, drawn up to alleviate the water shortage in the short- and long-run. The Disi project is an example.
    Thirdly, the country has proven (and here thanks go to His Majesty King Abdullah) that it is able, in times of dire need and crises, to act quickly and produce results, bringing water from our brothers and neighbours. The water that came and is coming from Syria is an example.
    And there are, I am sure, many other good plans and projects being drawn up by our thoughtful, able engineers and water experts.
    The bad news, however, is reflected in the situation as it has revealed itself this summer. It is true that the summer has almost passed without any water major scandals or crises (touch wood!). Nevertheless, a close look at how things have gone, and are going, shows that the situation is far from satisfactory. In fact, and for some neighbourhoods, it is almost scandalous.
    There is, and I am speaking on the basis on first-hand observation of the water situation in many areas within Amman, a serious problem with the water-distribution/economisation plan as implemented by the Water Ministry (WM). The guiding principle behind the plan is this: in order to save water and guarantee access to it by all citizens (the vast majority, if you will), people need to take turns. You cannot expect water to come to your faucet or water tanks 24 hours a day, as the case was not long ago. Rather, you should expect it to come once or twice a week.
    No problem. Under the circumstances, and taking into account that we live in a region which is poor in both rainfall and water resources, this seems to be the wise, logical thing, to do. People learn to appreciate the value of something more when it is rare and scarce than when it is available in abundance. And if people do not economise on the basis of a belief or conviction, they can learn to economise out of necessity.
    “Because we do not have much water,” a friend told me, “I have learned to wash my car using a bucket and to readjust the volume of faucets in our kitchen and the bathroom. We have even changed our washing and bathing habits.” Yes, scarcity of water can make people wiser and less wasteful.
    The problem with WM's distribution plan, however, seems to be three-fold. First, some neighbourhoods receive water 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, 30 days a month, 365 days a year. Believe you me, these neighbourhoods do exist. People in these neighbourhoods, drink, clean, wash and water their plants as freely, economically, or wastefully as their own consciences dictate.
    Second, some neighbourhoods receive water once or twice a week, according to the announced WM plan. People in these areas have made the necessary adjustments, though many of them have installed extra water tanks and have learned to fill their home water wells to the rim. They do not lavish water on themselves as they used to, but their economisation is, in my opinion, still way below what is should be.
    Thirdly, some neighbourhoods — and believe you me again, these neighbourhoods do exit — do not receive any water whatsoever. The pipes have not only dried but rusted and decayed. For this whole summer, these neighbourhoods have not received one single drop of water.
    How come? Why? No one really knows for sure — in the absence of a clear-cut explanation on part of WM. The explanation that is given by many people here is this: water does not reach the homes located on high hills (bearing in mind that Amman, like Rome, is built on seven hills — now more than seventeen, in fact — homes belonging to this category must be numerous). When WM releases water on the assigned day, all of it disappears inside the wells and the extra tanks (spoken of earlier) belonging to homes located at the foot and low side of hills. Water reaches the top only when the said wells and extra tanks fill up, which never happens.
    So what do you do, if you belong to this third, unfortunate category? One of two things: a) buy a special device (a generator of some sort) which has the ability to suck water, thus forcing it to reach a tank which you have to install on the ground (not at the top of your home) or b) simply suffer, especially if you are a tenant and cannot buy this special device and install any extra tank on the ground. What do you mean by suffer? Suffer by not receiving any drop of water from the WM pipe, by having to spend days afraid to use the bathroom or take a shower, and by being at the mercy of water-tanker owners who sell you water grudgingly at the most outrageous price.
    For individuals of this last category, Samuel Coleridge has said it best: “Water, water, everywhere/Nor any drop to drink.” We realise, of course, that we can't be wimps, that we need to be tough and not complain at the slightest advent of a problem. We know there is a water problem throughout the whole region, if not the whole world, and that we need to be tough and patient.
    Nevertheless, a whole summer without any water, for the neighbourhoods just mentioned, is a bit too much to ask. We hope next summer will be a better one. Nay, we hope in the months of autumn and winter ahead that the drips and drops of water, which are so valuable and so much missed, will be able to climb up and reach the eager tanks, if only to fill them in half.


High tech may water Jordan Valley, but dry up family farming (Jordan Times, 31/08/2000)
With a nostalgic look, Walid Gazul lets his eyes wander across his 60 dunums of farmland in Kreimeh near Deir Alla, which he and his brother lease to a large-scale local farmer for JD3,000 per year.
Farming, Gazul said, became unprofitable for him with prices for tomatoes and cucumbers — his main crops — steadily falling and with soaring bills for water and pesticides aggravating his financial situation. He said he was compelled to abandon the farming business when wealthy, industrialised farmers began to outpace him. He attributes their success to their ability to bring in modern technology that streamlines operations and enables them to meet market requirements. “Renting my land to another farmer is much more profitable for me. Now we get JD3,000 every year and this supports our whole family,” Gazul said.
His neighbours in the Jordan Valley are likely to encounter the same experience as the Kingdom gears up to enter the new world economic order.
The Economic Consultative Council's irrigated agriculture committee has been working on a proposal to overhaul the sector, which promises to change the course of Jordanian farming forever if it is accepted and endorsed. The final report of the committee, containing suggestions for reforms, will be presented to His Majesty King Abdullah soon.
As with agricultural reforms around the world, the committee does not expect the proposal to win any popularity contest. "We are very serious about change. Things in this country need to change — many habits [and] things that we take for granted,” said Anwar Battikhi, head of the committee and dean of the Hashemiyeh University, during a recent interview with the Jordan Times. “Courageous decisions have to be made.”
Although the proposal has not been made public, citizens can take for granted that reform in irrigated agriculture will be based on two pillars: The harnessing of private sector capital and technology, and more efficient use of precious water.
“The government has really carried a heavy burden in this country. It raised people to depend on the state for [things] like subsidies and job opportunities,” said Battikhi.
The disparity between water exploitation and agriculture's contribution to GDP is straightforward. Agriculture consumes the highest amount of the Kingdom's water resources — 650 million cubic metres (mcm) out of an available 900mcm — but contributes only 4.5 per cent to Jordan's JD2.2 billion GDP. Only half of that is generated by irrigated agriculture.
The difference becomes even more glaring when the country's chronic water shortage and rapid population growth rate are brought into play: Population grows at 3.4 per cent a year, while the water deficit of 220mcm is expected to grow to 250mcm within a decade.
“Nine hundred mcm a year, is a very small resource, and we use 650 mcm a year for agriculture,” said Battikhi. “So what prompted us [were discussions] about importing drinking water from the Disi [aquifer], and how much it will cost us. We started thinking more seriously and contemplating whether we are using this water efficiently or not,” Battikhi explained.
The gulf between agricultural consumption and contribution to the GDP has led economists and agriculture experts to advocate reducing agriculture's water allocation, not only in Jordan, but worldwide. Instead, the municipal and industrial sectors, should be the top beneficiaries of water distribution.
“We know that the water for irrigation will decline, by at least 15 per cent within the next 10 years. But [it] will be replaced by low-quality water, treated wastewater,” contended Abdul Nabbi Fardos, director of the National Centre for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer and a member of the committee.
In order to purify low-quality water, it would be necessary to improve the efficiency of Jordan's largest wastewater treatment plant, Khirbet Al Samra, and to increasingly introduce crops that can withstand such water. Fodder crops, roses, carnations were some of the alternative plants that still yield high profits, Fardos added.
Israel, facing similar water scarcity problems, plans a 50 per cent reduction of water to irrigated agriculture in 2001.
Jordan, whose water scarcity problem is even worse than that of Israel, has avoided harsh water reductions so far, favouring a “smooth” reduction of water distribution in tandem with the gradual application of modern irrigation technologies and the planting of crops consuming less water.
“We want to optimise water use, not cut down on agriculture. We want farmers to use water more efficiently, and we want to try to advise [farmers] about management of water use and maximising [water efficiency], Battikhi said.
But others believe the reduction of water to the sector will be a natural consequence of increased industrial activity in the future. “Let market forces work and they will create the balance...when there is an increase in industry, it will automatically take water away from agriculture, because the labour force will be redirected in the economy,” proffered Fawaz Zo'bi, director of the Arab Drip Irrigation Systems Manufacturing Company (ADRITEC) and a member of the committee.
Opponents of reducing water for agriculture have urged the government to bear in mind the socio-economic importance of the sector. They contend that reducing water allocated to agriculture would destroy the livelihood of many families and increase the already high unemployment rate, which is officially estimated at 14 per cent, and unofficially at 27 per cent.
Six per cent of the labour force is directly employed in agriculture, either as farmers or farm workers, while the agriculture-related service sector constitutes 28 per cent.
And for 20 per cent of the 5 million population, agriculture is the main source of income.
Others remind of the importance of strategic “food security” referring to the fact that Jordan is still a country situated in an area of constant crisis.
Yet another school of theory contends that diverting water away from agriculture in favour of industry is only reasonable when there is a parallel growth in industry. “We cannot take water from agriculture and give it to industry, [because] there is no industrial growth,” Mohammad Shatanawi, dean of the University of Jordan department of agriculture, told the Jordan Times. That argument also seems to be supported by the Ministry of Agriculture. In its 1999 `Agricultural Policy Impact Monitoring Project' document, the ministry argued that municipal and water needs consume only 26 per cent of the Kingdom's water. “The remaining water can be used in activities with lower marginal returns, e.g., in agriculture. In fact, not using the remaining water is costly because we can produce wheat with it,” the document states.

The role of technology and private sector
The application of state-of-the-art technology is seen as the only way to keep Jordan's export-oriented agriculture competitive on the global market. Its use would bring about an immediate reduction in the volume of water used for irrigation, but many small farmers, many of whom are heavily indebted, do not have capital at the ready for such investments.
The ECC committee intends to propose encouraging cooperatives, within which small farmers organise to jointly share modern technologies and come up with a joint marketing strategy.
“Small farmers, if they do not go into cooperatives, will not survive...They will be out of business,” said Mohammad Awamleh, head of marketing extension and training at the Agricultural Marketing Organisation and a farmer himself.
But the ECC's most favoured concept is “contract farming.”
Under this scheme, large private investors would provide capital intensive technology and farmers would produce for these investors under their know-how and under their supervision.
“[The idea is to] open up the investment to the larger [farming operations] to come in, to take over, build the infrastructure, put in the money and the investment, and hire smaller farmers,” Zo'bi, who was named to the cabinet in June, told the Jordan Times.
The ECC's irrigated agriculture committee's calculation is that private sector will look for more profitable ways to produce agricultural crops by optimising water use and by planting crops that yield the highest return.
“The private sector role is what we anticipate, this is what we think is best. The private sector is running the project, you would need less people, you can run it more efficiently and at less costs. It is working in most developing countries,” said Battikhi.

End of small-size farms evident in Jordan Valley
The rest of the equation is that “industrial farming,” as it is referred to bitterly in the West, is likely to bring about the sale of land by small-scale farmers to large investors, who need massive swathes of land to create economies of scale. Eighty per cent of Jordan Valley farms are no bigger than 30 dunums.
“We were not interested in the Jordan Valley because, the lands are small plots, and it is like a vegetable garden. We brought modern equipment that nobody has [here]...big tractors, ploughs, planners, cultivators, modern sprayers. [They can only be] used on wide land. We are not working on 30-40 dunums like in the Ghor,” said Yacov Ben Ari, an Israeli investor who leases 700 dunums of farmland in the Mafraq area to plant and supply an Israeli food processing industry with vegetables.
The current Jordan Valley law does not allow the sale of land there, but this is likely to change soon. Two weeks ago, the government submitted to Parliament draft amendments to the Jordan Valley Development Law with a clause permitting the sale of land.
“By this, you will end up with larger farms, which are definitely more economical to run if you want to use modern technology,” Battikhi said.
But the threat of a new form of “natural selection” is waved like a red flag by all. Only the strongest and fittest will be able to compete in the new economic competition and international rivalries, where global economy sets the selective criteria.
“They [the big investors] have the power or facilities to export outside the country, but those poor farmers do not. They will mainly produce for local markets, [but] will get lower prices,” Fardos said.
These facts give rise to concerns about what to do with farmers once they give up their farms to prevent the new “agricultural order” from upsetting an already delicate socio-economic balance.
Or, there is the even less palatable “master to slave” scenario.
Former landowners could, after selling their land, work as farmworkers on farms of large-scale investors, World Bank advisor John Briscoe told the Jordan Times on the sidelines of the Second World Water Forum in The Hague in March. Jordanian experts also are convinced that this is inevitable. “These people should either work with the private companies as small partners or as labourers. Or the government should provide job opportunities in other sectors, like industry or fields related to agriculture. People will be needed for packaging [or] producing paste in factories,” Battikhi said.
“This is the main subject, people need to work and to live and therefore whenever you want to deal with a subject this sensitive, you have to think of job opportunities,” he said.
The committee also pins high hopes on the private sector in other areas, to manage other activities in which the government has failed: In introducing cropping patterns to reduce the amount of water for irrigation, in matching the preconditions of the various soil structures and guiding production to meet market demands.
“We are recommending some cropping patterns. We do not want to enforce it, we don't want to repeat the problem that we had 10 years ago, when we enforced the cropping pattern. We do not know how to enforce it. We had to go back and let farmers do whatever they wanted, because we couldn't control it. It needs an army to control a certain pattern,” Battikhi said.
He believes market forces will be a more persuasive factor in convincing farmers to apply a cropping pattern.
“We are recommending better ways to enforce such patterns by encouraging companies to think of marketing and do contracts on marketing first, then go back to the farmers and buy their produce before they plant.
[And] sign contracts with them on what to plant. In other words, we want the private sector to market first and produce second. This will also solve the marketing problem, which is the most serious problem in Jordan regarding products,” Battikhi added.

Ending water subsidy and privatise water management in JV
The World Bank and IMF have pushed for an end to water subsidies to irrigated agriculture; a measure that the government has avoided for political and social reasons, but the ECC committee envisages as ending.
Currently, Jordan Valley farmers pay only 15 fils per cubic metre of water on average. The real cost of providing water to farmers amounts to a multiple of that amount.
“We are now advising the maintenance and operation of a water distribution process [in the Jordan Valley] be privatised...because the government is losing lots of money on Jordan Valley water management,” said Battikhi. “If we produce for export, we should not produce conventional crops, because the government is subsidising water, and therefore it is subsidising the international economy.”
“The major thing we want to stress in our report is that water really costs us more than what we charge farmers, and that therefore, we should look for production considering the actual price of water and not only the maintenance and operation costs,” he added.
Battikhi believes that an increase in water prices will not be substantial, because more efficient maintenance and operations will reduce operation costs.
And if water management is privatised in the Jordan Valley, the committee believes it is likely that the area will be planted with crops that consume much less water. A consistent complaint of water conservationists has been that farmers plant high water consuming plants, such as bananas.
“If you plant bananas, the farmer is gaining some money, but the country is losing a lot,” Battikhi said.


JVA restricts banana planting in southern Jordan Valley, Wadi Araba (Jordan Times, 15/08/2000)
    Farmers in the southern Jordan Valley and Wadi Araba will be restricted to planting only five dunums of bananas for each 30-40-dunum agricultural unit, an official said on Monday. The government has long sought to discourage the cultivation of high water-consuming crops.
    In the face of the country's chronic water shortage and nearly five years of drought, the government moved to regulate banana growing, said Khaled Qssous, Jordan Valley Authority assistant secretary general for the southern valley and Wadi Araba. Qssous said strict and decisive action will be taken against violators of this new regulation as well as other restrictions already in place. “We usually warn violators as a first step, if it is not enough, he/she is automatically referred to the administrative governor in the area,” he said.  Violations include exceeding permissible water consumption limits and making use of state-owned agricultural lands. “The daily water utilisation per agricultural unit in the southern valley is limited to 259 cubic metres,” Qssous said.
    Of the 46,000 agricultural dunums in the southern valley and Wadi Araba, some 5,000 dunums are planted with bananas which consume four to five times more water than other crops.  Many agricultural experts believe it is preferable to import bananas rather than to plant them. A local study conducted by the Agricultural Marketing Organisation in March reveals that it costs JD700 to cultivate one dunum (1,000 sq. metres) of bananas, although importing bananas costs JD630, according to a local study.
    The southern valley and Wadi Araba farmers traditionally cultivated primarily vegetables. But the increased scarcity of water in the northern Jordan Valley where most bananas were grown forced farmers there to opt for different crops, and since 1995 banana growing took root in the southern areas where water had been more available.


Ministry to institute new measures to regulate water theft (Jordan Times, 13/08/2000)
    The government is resorting to new measures intended to put an end to illegal exploitation of underground water resources.
Al Rai Arabic daily on Saturday reported that the Ministry of Water and Irrigation is planning to amend legislation in order to authorise the Water Authority to deal with violations pertaining to unlicensed well-drilling and any related matters, and to refer violators for legal action. The new measures include appointing judges, who besides imposing fines, can order the removal of all equipment like pumps and other paraphernalia set up by violators for illegal exploitation of the Kingdom's scarce water resources.  In order to watch for violations and to protecting the limited water in aquifers, the government recently introduced measures to continually monitor 1,254 privately-owned wells and has ordered the closure of unlicensed wells.
    The report further mentioned that the Water Authority of Jordan will restrict the allowed extraction from licensed wells for agricultural purposes, and will be authorised to levy fines against farmers exceeding the prescribed limit.
    Earlier this year, the ministry said that despite measures taken to curb water theft, the practice has continued and in some areas the volume reached nearly 90 per cent of water pumped. Furthermore, the ministry estimated that an average of 50 per cent of the pumped total was lost through leakage from the worn-out network.
    Statistics warn that by the year 2020 when the country's freshwater resources will be completely exhausted, Jordan's population, which is rapidly out-distancing its water resources, is expected to reach more than eight million from the current 4.8 million.


The need for a ministry of environment (Jordan Times, 24/06/2000)
opinion article by Batir Wardam (This article represents the writer's own views and does not reflect his position as programme development officer at the IUCN national office in Amman. For comments he can be reached at batir-iucn@jonet.com)
It is no secret that the new government was about to create a unique `Ministry of Environment' until last minute changes put the idea on hold.
The concept of a Ministry of Environment is now well-supported at the highest level of decision making in Jordan and it's only a matter of time, and some legislative amendments, before it becomes a reality.
No ministry of environment can be legalised without making the necessary amendments to the Environmental Protection Law no. 12 of 1995 which gives the Ministry of Municipalities, Rural Affairs and the Environment the legislative power over environmental affairs in Jordan. The law no. 12 of 1995 identifies the minister responsible for implementing environmental protection measures as the minister of municipalities, rural affairs and the environment. Neglecting such legislative obstacles cannot be done.
To understand the importance of establishing a ministry for environment let us consider the current environmental legislative framework.
For actions to preserve the environment the government had, until 1995, to rely on fragmented laws, which were designed to regulate other sectors, regions, services and activities. There were 187 articles in at least 18 laws and 8 regulations dealing with the preservation of environmental resources in Jordan.
Those laws pertained to specific sectors: water, agriculture, antiquities, quarries, etc. as well as to regions: the Aqaba Regional Authority, the Jordan Valley Authority, and also some specific activities: the Traffic Law, Crafts and Industries Law, Municipalities Law, etc.
Most of these laws date back to the fifties and the sixties when environmental awareness was still limited, and environmental pressures less noticeable.
As a result, there was duplication and repetition between the laws, as well as many gaps. The National Environment Strategy for Jordan, developed in 1991, pointed out all these legal difficulties and strongly recommended the introduction of special environmental legislation.
In 1995, a new comprehensive environmental law was enacted by the Government which was intended to regulate various activities in the country in an environmentally safe way and which includes monitoring and compliance provisions. The law specifically provides for the creation of a central authority to manage Jordan's environment and implement the new environmental legislation.
Provisions of the Environmental Protection Law No.12 of 1995 established a new public and official corporation called “General Corporation for Environment Protection” in Jordan. The corporation enjoys autonomous status and has financial and managerial independence.
The Corporation reports to the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Environment and aims at drawing up a national policy for the protection of environment and executing this in cooperation with other specialised bodies.
To achieve the purposes of the law, the Corporation, in cooperation with specialised and concerned bodies, would exercise the following function:

a) Draw the general policy for environmental protection, with the strategy and plans for implementation.
b) Monitor environmental parameters through the laboratories designated by the Board.
c) Prepare specifications and parameters for environmental components.
d) Carry out research and studies relevant to the environment.
e) Monitor utilities, public and private activities including projects and companies to ensure their compliance with environmental parameters and specifications.
f) Lay down regulations, specifications and environmental conditions
g) Supervise and conduct environmental impact assessment for projects
h) Lay down rules for handling hazardous waste
i) Lay down rules for establishing Nature Reserves
j) Prepare plans for environmental emergenciesk) Issue public awareness posters, etc.
The Corporation is an autonomous body, a legal entity with financial independence and is the authorised body responsible for environmental protection within all sectors of the developmental scheme. Public and private entities must comply with its regulations and decisions. Courts deal with infringements of the law, but the Director of the Corporation can close any premises if the infringement is severe until the matter is dealt with in the courts or the infringement is rectified.
The Corporation has a fund called the Environment Protection Fund for investment in environmental protection. The Fund's income is from donor assistance and donations from public, private and foreign institutions. The existence of this fund adds to the corporation's autonomy and financial independence and gives it some clout in carrying out its activities.
Despite having been given the necessary legislative power, the Corporation has failed to deliver on expectations. The Corporation is a bureaucratic institution burdened with civil servants who are not specialised. The Corporation is also hindered by its direct link with the minister of municipalities, who is not usually an environmental technocrat but rather there to deal with municipalities and social public networks. In 1998, the minister stopped the Corporation's director general (appointed by the Prime Minister) from voicing a different opinion regarding the hazardous waste landfill in Suwaqa.
A Higher Council for Environment Protection was established to be headed by the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Environment and consisting of 21 members from the public sector mostly and the private sector. The council, among other things, has the following mandates:
1. approve the national environmental policy and strategy,
2. approve environmental specification and standards,
3. propose environmental legislation,
4. issue regulations and decisions to add to the Environment Protection Law,
5. approve plans to deal with environmental disasters.
Other public organisations are also involved in environmental planning and implementation of environmental protection measures, each within its own mandate.
The Ministry of Planning (MOP) is the official government body entrusted with and responsible for channelling funding from donor countries and organisations to Jordanian agencies and organisations.
However, an Environment Unit (EU) in the MOP was placed in the Water, Environment and Tourism Directorate in December 1994 as result of growing demand from governmental and non-governmental organisations that are applying for or implementing environmental projects.
The EU/MOP is primarily responsible for reviewing and commenting in coordination with related institutions, on the increasing number of environmentally related projects and proposals that are submitted to the MOP and financed by foreign donors.
The role of the EU/MOP is often described as that of a facilitator between the needs of technical institutions and the requirement of donors.
The Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MOWI) is responsible for the water resource allocation and water quality protection. MWI is composed of two authorities: the Water Authority of Jordan and the Jordan Valley Authority.
The Water Authority of Jordan (WA) is responsible for the allocation of water to domestic, agricultural and industrial users. WA maintains environmental protection of surface and ground water quality from industrial and municipal wastewater discharges by monitoring effluent quality and taking compliance actions.
WA is responsible for enforcing effluent limits for discharges to surface waters including the Gulf of Aqaba. WA is also responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of sewage treatment plants throughout the county.
The Jordan Valley Authority is responsible for all irrigation water allocations in the Jordan Valley up to 500 meters in elevation. The JVA is also responsible for soil reclamation in valley's fertile farmlands. This huge and fragmented list of public authorities let alone NGOs and research centres makes the environmental map in Jordan very complicated and multifaceted. This will eventually result in overlapping and sometimes competition for authorities.
To overcome such difficulties and to cope with the ever-increasing technicality of environmental problems and issues two very important improvements have to be implemented:
1. Raising the level of environmental decision to an independent and technical ministerial level instead of bureaucratically dependent levels.
2. Utilising high-calibre human resources and modernising the structure of environmental public institutes and coordinating this effort at a technocratic level.
In other words, we need to establish an independent, high-tech environmental ministry solely responsible for environmental protection. This will need legislative amendment and it can be done by transferring the current Corporation for Environmental protection into a well functioning Ministry of Environment with high calibre staff.
The vision is spreading in high decision making levels and the future might see the establishment of this ministry within months.


Water Ministry mops up Wihdat water problems (Jordan Times, 14/06/2000)
    The Water and Irrigation Ministry and its associate LEMA moved swiftly on Sunday night to replace part of a worn-out network in a Wihdat refugee camp area after a resident complained of a “change in water supplies.”
    A ministry official told the Jordan Times on Tuesday that technicians replaced water connections to 28 homes as well as the main pipeline in the area after wastewater leaked from the sewage network into the deteriorated pipes supplying the residents with water. “We immediately moved to the place after receiving the complaint, and we were sure that nothing was wrong with the quality of the actual supplies of water,” said the official. “However, as a precautionary measure, we replaced some water connections and the main pipeline, and conducted laboratory tests on the supplies to make sure they were potable.”
    The official, who stressed that the limited-range contamination was controlled immediately, said the replacement of the water pipes and connections cost around JD5,000.
    LEMA, contracted by the government last year to better manage Amman's water, is a partnership between France's Lyonnaise des Eaux and Jordan's Montgomery Watson Arabtech Jardaneh.


Survey urges better water conservation by hotels, industries and gov't (Jordan Times, 14/06/2000)
    Most efforts at instilling the need for water conservation have been directed at the private citizen. But a recent study of water use by hotels, industries and government institutions shows that much water could be saved by this major and expanding sector.
    The two-month survey, conducted by the USAID-funded Water Efficiency and Public Information for Action (WEPIA) project in conjunction with the Water and Irrigation Ministry, suggested several water saving tips for such big water consumers. “The tips are based upon established standards for efficient water-use from selected countries and modified to meet Jordan's specific conditions,” said the study, prepared by several Jordanian and American water experts.
    WEPIA is a three-year programme with two broad programme areas related to water demand management. The first looks at immediate action, while the second addresses the next generation and its attitude towards water consumption.  The programme is also designed to cooperate with schoolteachers in order to integrate water management and consumption into the students' curriculum.

Following are some of the water saving tips recommended by the survey:

Recommended Plumping Water — use rates for the workplace:
  • Showerheads: Install showerheads that use a maximum of 8-9.5 litres of water per minute.
  • Taps: Install low-flow pressure compensating aerators that deliver a maximum of 4 litres per minute and 6 litres per minute for wash basins and kitchen sinks respectively.
  • Toilet flushes: Install only new toilet fixtures that are designed to use a maximum of 6 litres per flush. For the home, consider dual flush (3 litres for liquid waste and 6 litres per solid waste).



    • Water crimes and punishment in Jordan (Jordan Times, 14/06/2000)
    By Batir Wardam (the author is the programme development officer at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) National Office in Jordan. He can be reached at batir-iucn@jonet.com)
        Water scarcity is felt by everybody in Jordan as we sit and wait for our weekly ration, and many an equation has been formulated by scientists, researchers and academics for projecting future water availability in relation to population growth and economic development.
        The water strategy put forward by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation looks good on paper, but in reality it depends on exploiting groundwater aquifers, already depleted to the limit. In the meantime, the ministry is waiting for funding for the implementation of water megaprojects, such as the Disi-Amman waterpipe at an estimated cost of $120 million.
        While our water resources are being exploited at an alarming rate there are several “water crimes” being perpetrated all over the nation resulting in further enormous water losses.
        One welcome positive development is the possibility of constructing a sea water desalination plant in Aqaba to serve the Aqaba region. Aqaba is dependent for its water supply on the water the Disi fossil aquifer. Several industries in Aqaba are utilising huge amounts of water for their industrial processes comprising the majority of water extraction in the town. The fertiliser complex and the potash industry in particular are using more than 4 million cubic metres (MCM) of highly clean and pure drinking water annually.
        The desalination plant will provide 5 MCM annually mainly to serve the industrial sector and also to provide drinking water for tourism. This will lower the pressure on the Disi aquifer, provide a logical allocation of water and allow for the proposed expansion of the industrial and tourist sectors in Aqaba within the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).  If this project will solve the crime of industrial exploitation of the Disi aquifer, the agricultural sector poses another big dilemma.
        Most of the agricultural practices in Jordan are chaotic, focusing on low revenue crops that consume high amounts of water. One of the most problematic issues was wheat irrigation from the Disi aquifer which neither created revenues nor food security and the only result was further depletion of water resources. Currently the practice is vanishing gradually and everntually it will be stopped.
        The other sensitive issue is banana crops in the Ghor Valley. If one dunum of wheat requires 1,000 CM of water, a dunum of banana crops requires 2,000 CM. The crops are of low quality and are sold at a high price. Importing bananas is subject to several barriers including taxes, in order to protect local banana farming which is supported by a strong lobby of big traders and investors. Jordan's protocol with the WTO did not mention lifting this protectionist rule vis-a-vis bananas. For comparisons sake, strawberry, a considerable cash crop, requires only 300 CM of water for one dunum. A complete shift in agricultural production must be implemented to conserve scarce water resources.
        The other crucial water crime in Jordan is the leaking drinking water pipes that result in more than 50 per cent loss of available drinking water. The privatisation of the water sector is aimed at solving this problem. Until now, though collecting dues has “markedly improved”, no solid remedy for the leaking pipes problem has materialised. If the pipes problem is a technical failure, there is also a political failure regarding the illegal exploitation of groundwater by farmers and officials who drill non-certified water wells for irrigation. The water ministry reportedly knows about these but the political will to stop this practice is lacking, so another huge amount of freshwater is being “stolen” with no monitoring or law enforcement. Official figures indicate that more than 500 officials have been pumping water without paying charges to the government for more than a decade.
        There are about 400 unlicensed wells pumping more than 25 MCM annually. In addition, more than 800 licensed wells are used to pump more than 100,000 CM annually. If such wells were forced to restrict their pumping to less than 100.000 CM a total of 130 MCM could be saved annually. The other alternative is to force such well owners to pay dues in relation to over pumping.
        The ministry's plan for the summer is focused on drilling and operating 42 new wells to produce more than 30 MCM. The amount of water pumping from national wells has reached 510 MCM annually while the safe yield is only 275 MCM indicating an over use of 200 per cent. This is a non-sustainable method of water management and the ministry knows that. However, there are precious few ideas at the moment on how to start and complete the various proposed megaprojects. The Hisban desalination plant is expected to be operational the next year providing 45 MCM annually. This is a short-term solution, and it is the roots of the problem that must be tackled with a clear political decision to properly manage and reverse the trends of previously mentioned water crimes in Jordan.


    Government to re-open tenders for Mujeb Dam project to local firms (Jordan Times, 29/05/2000)
    The government on Saturday announced it will re-open two tenders worth a total of JD65 million for a Jordan Valley development project and this time offer local firms the chance to bid after offers from foreign firms failed to meet the required standards and specifications.
    Several months ago, when the tenders for this project were floated, 60 deputies and the Jordan Constructions Contractors Association urged the government to reconsider its decision to open the bidding only to foreign firms. Recently, the association launched a media campaign against the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and demanded that local contractors be eligible to bid for the national project.
    On Friday, Water and Irrigation Minister Kamel Mahadin said tenders floated several months ago to develop the southern Jordan Valley's Wadi Mujeb, by setting up a water conveyance pipeline and installing irrigation networks, have been cancelled mainly to enable local contractors take part in the plan.
    The scheme calls for setting up the infrastructure for an irrigation system to water 12,000 dunums of land situated at the northern part of Ghor Safi and supply water to industrial and tourist projects in the valley.
    Mahadin said that the bids received failed to meet the standards and specifications of the plan, part of a mega JD180 million programme to construct dams in the Mujeb, Waleh and Hasa valleys, a diversion dam at the conjunction of Mujeb and Waleh, and the exploitation of flood waters flowing to the targeted valleys.
    But the government said then that the scheme would be financed through international funds and thus international firms must contribute to the project.
    When completed, the programme is expected to provide 19 million cubic metres of water per year to the Arab Potash Company and the Dead Sea Chemical Complex, 15 mcm per year to the tourist area at the eastern part of the Dead Sea and 20 mcm per year to improve irrigation of 61 dunums in the northern Ghor Safi.
    According to the ministry, the storage capacity of the Waleh Dam will be 9.3 mcm, with the possibility of increasing it to 26 mcm in the future. The storage capacity of the Mujeb Dam will be 35 mcm, while the capacity of the Tannor Dam in the Hasa Valley, will be 16.8 mcm.
    The project, scheduled to start operating within two years, is expected to earn JD40 million per year in profits and open up 500-800 new jobs.
    Thirty per cent of the project's cost will be covered by the government, while the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development will pay 56 per cent and the Islamic Fund for Development will guarantee 14 per cent, according to the Water Ministry.


    Reporting on our water crisis (Jordan Times, 05/05/2000)
    Letter to the editor by Ghassan B. Alami, U.S.
        Journalism is a profession that I admire and only wish I had learned. Yet, reading the article “Government to start emergency water rationing plan May 1st” (JT, April 27th) awoke, yet again, a great uneasiness I get from the manner in which the Jordan Times covers Jordan's water crisis.
        First and foremost, I address the article's sub-heading which quotes the Minister of Water and Irrigation's declaration that no water crisis is expected this summer. While the method and extent of such reassurances to the public by the Ministry are questionable, there are often valid reasons behind them. That, however, is no reason for our local newspapers to parrot them.
        Indeed, a crisis such as the one we saw in the summer of 1998 may not be upon us this summer — thank God for that. But Jordan's chronic water shortage (or crisis) is unequivocal and worsening year after year. What are rainfall levels of only 55 per cent of the long-term average and emergency contingency plans if not clear signs of a water crisis? The article at hand, with the facts and figures therein, attests to this situation. It also shows the laudable effort that the Jordan Times is making to raise the public's recognition of our water crisis. But simply reporting the measures undertaken by the government, like quoting statements of officials, may undermine this very effort.
        The Ministry of Water and Irrigation, for reasons into which I shall not delve (and which I cannot entirely fathom), is stuck for the most part on the supply-increasing side of solving our water shortage. Many more dinars are spent on such measures as building dams and digging new wells than on reconstructing Amman's water conveyance network, restructuring our agricultural system (and ameliorating the impacts of that), and other demand-decreasing measures. Yet, it is such demand-decreasing measures and their importance that I think the public should hear more about. This, in my view, would help the Jordanian public finally come out of its blissful oblivion of our water crisis and the fantasy that the government will carry us, clumsily yet safely, to water security.
        Moreover, and more importantly, the “demand side” is the side the public is on. The extent to which Jordanian citizens — some much more than others — can contribute to reducing our demand is grossly underestimated by both the government and the citizens themselves. Informing people of ways they can help, ways others are helping, and the effects of their help is a crucial ingredient in the solution to our water shortage and other environmental problems. To be sure, the Jordan Times is already doing that — as exemplified by the article in the same issue entitled “Environment corporation targets children in awareness campaign.” I applaud the staff of our honourable paper and call on them to further this worthy effort.


    Govt to start emergency water rationing plan May 1 (Jordan Times, 27/04/2000)
    The government on Wednesday announced an emergency water rationing plan to help tackle the chronic water shortage in the Kingdom during the summer season.
    Addressing a press conference, Water and Irrigation Minister Kamel Mahadin, nevertheless, reasssured citizens “that no water crisis is expected this year.”
    Under this year's contingency plan, to be implemented as of May 1, water will be pumped to residents of various parts of the Kingdom 36 hours a week, “ensuring minimum supplies unless the situation exacerbated,” Mahadin said.
    The worst-case scenario envisages up to 40 per cent cut in water supplied by the state — a severe rationing to Jordanian homes, which now receive water through networks only two days a week.
    Although the rationing schedule is designed to reduce consumption, a 19 per cent water deficit is still anticipated as demand totals 164 million cubic metres (mcm) and supply amounts to 132.7mcm, Mahadin said.
    Under the programme, more than 42 wells will be drilled to produce 29.54mcm during the summer, joining 46 existing ones which were dug in 1999 to provide 42mcm.
    Irrigation water supplied to the Jordan Valley will be cut by 30-50 per cent as the 2000 agricultural requirements were estimated at 206mcm, while available resource are 161mcm.
    The seasonal rainfall brought 55 per cent of the long-term average of 8 billion cubic metres a year. Jordan's six dams were only 33 per cent full with 53mcm.
    Among the Kingdom's major long-term plans to cope with water deficit are constructing the Wihdeh Dam on the Yarmouk River near the northern border with Syria to store 225mcm; purchasing millions of cubic metres of drinking water from Turkey and drawing 100mcm of ancient water from the strategic Disi aquifer in the south.
    The minister said plans to set up the JD146 million dam will begin in September, with a Jordanian-Syrian consortium handling 50 per cent of the project.
    He added that negotiations with Libya to help Jordan lay the $730 million Disi conveyance system are still under way.
    Last month, several Jordanian officials, including Mahadin, announced that Tripoli, which has the required experience in carrying out such schemes, informed Jordan it would cover 70 per cent of the conveyance system's cost. It was still unclear whether Libya's contribution would be through financial or in-kind aid.
    The minister explained that any plans to purchase water from Turkey “must be implemented in line with a regional cooperation” framework.
    Lack of funds, regional political conflicts and Israeli environmentalist are troubling Turkey's offer to sell water to its Middle East neighbours.
    The Kingdom has been facing severe water shortages since a mild drought hit the region three years ago. But the situation worsened in 1999 because of inadequate rainfall — the main source of water for domestic, industrial and agricultural use.


    Jordan flushes valuable energy, water resources down the drain, says expert (Jordan Times, 13/04/2000)
        Separating toilet water from the rest of household wastewater can save huge amounts of high quality drinking water, according to a visiting Dutch agricultural expert. Jules van Lier, professor at the Dutch University of Wageningen's department of agrotechnology and food services, said the application of an anaerobic (without oxygen) wastewater treatment system could save energy normally spent on conventional wastewater treatment.
        Supplying a high amount of water of drinking quality every day is unreasonable given the fact that a human being consumes daily only one to two litres of water for drinking purposes, Van Lier told the Jordan Times. “[Jordanians] are supplied 80 litres of drinking water [per capita] per day. But for drinking, a person only needs one to two litres a day. The rest of this high quality water is used for transporting human excreta away from the city. As water is getting scarce, we have to rethink this concept,” he said.
        Van Lier explained that “black water” — that is toilet water — needs extensive treatment because it contains so-called pathogens, such as bacteria or other disease-causing microbes. But this water only constitutes 25 per cent of the volume of wastewater. The other 75 per cent consists of so-called “grey water,” that is wastewater generated from washing clothes and dishes and bathing that could be easily treated by relatively cheap filtering systems. This water could be reused either to water urban gardens, to wash cars, to flush toilets, or to irrigate agricultural lands on a large scale. Jordan already uses this treated wastewater for agricultural purposes.
        “By diluting human faeces in [a] large volume of water, we are making the problem more complex. It is more expensive to treat diluted wastewaters, and it is much more cost-effective to treat concentrated wastewater,” Van Lier explained.
        Energy in organic waste
    The application of anaerobic wastewater treatment could also have a positive impact on the consumption of electric energy, Van Lier said. During the anaerobic treatment process methane gas is produced as a byproduct and is used as an energy source for subsequent treatment processes.  “There is so much energy in organic waste, you can just recover it from the wastewater,” enthused Van Lier. During the anaerobic wastewater treatment process, all the organic material is mineralised and turns to methane gas,” he explained. “This methane gas can be recovered and electric energy can be made out of it.”
        He claims that the daily amount of Amman's wastewater — 160,000 cubic metres that is treated in Khirbet Al Samra treatment plant — could produce 30,000 cubic metres of methane gas on a daily basis with an electric potential of 250,000 kilowatt-hours per day. In comparison, the electricity consumption of an average Jordanian is about 3.8 kilowatt-hours a day, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. “So, instead of energy spending, you may make energy by the treatment of wastewater,” Van Lier said.


    Treated wastewater will be key water supply to agricultural sector in coming years — water experts (Jordan Times, 03/04/2000)
    By Dana Charkasi
        Treated wastewater from urban areas will play a key role in supplying the agricultural sector with water, was the tenor of agriculture and water experts on Sunday.
        The use of treated wastewater in agriculture can both serve the agricultural sector's demands for water and constitute a sustainable way of disposing wastewater to the environment. Pre-conditions for the success of the scheme are the proper treatment of wastewater according to its use and perfect management of its distribution, experts stressed.
        “It is very important to reuse wastewater after treatment for two reasons. The first one is environmental...the treatment of wastewater will minimise the impacts [improper disposal] on the environment. The other thing is to use it as a resource in agriculture,” said Manar Fayyad, director of the Water and Environment Research and Study Centre (WERSC).
        Bassem Zuweideh, substituting for Jordan's Water Authority Secretary General Mundher Khleifat, said that Jordan — besides using the available water resources in the most efficient way — has to increase the exploitation of non-conventional water resources, such as the use of treated wastewater.
        Jordan already uses 80 per cent of the total amount of wastewater generated in the country for agricultural purposes, but there are plans to further expand it, since demand for fresh water in cities is increasing in tandem with the growing urban sector.
        “As the urban sector is growing gradually, more wastewater will be produced. And in a country like Jordan, this wastewater cannot be wasted,” Mohammad Shatanawi, dean of the department of agriculture at the University of Jordan, told the Jordan Times.
        “It will be a priority to use it in agriculture for crops that accept it. In 1986, around 22 million cubic metres of treated wastewater was used in agriculture compared to 80mcm in 1999. And we expect that by the year 2025, the amount of treated wastewater used in agriculture will reach 300mcm,” Zuweideh said.
        He was speaking at the official opening of a three-week training course on the use of treated wastewater in agriculture.
        As the treatment of wastewater is expensive and the various crops require different standards of water quality, proper management is needed to thoroughly regulate the volume and quality of water needed for agriculture.
        “There is the issue of standards of water quality. If you want to use the water for irrigation of vegetables that are going to be eaten raw, then there are certain [stricter] standards. Animal fodder for example requires a lower quality,” Fayyad said.
        “The treatment is costly, so you have to bring the water to a quality required for its respective use. We need to know from the beginning, for what are we going to use the water [to be treated],” Fayyad added.
        Improper treatment of wastewater not only prevents efficient use in agriculture, but actually endangers the health of people, experts said.
        “Wastewater contains a lot of pathogens such as bacteria or other factors causing diseases. Nematodes for example are worms produced in the wastewater, so the wastewater has to be treated very carefully in order to kill all the eggs of these worms,” Shatanawi told the Jordan Times adding that these worms could live inside the human body.
        “I do not think that the government will be able to manage this huge amount of wastewater [in the future]. It requires a lot of know-how and technology application,” Shatanawi added.
        Fears that recycled wastewater has a negative impact on the quality of crops were diminished.
        “The quality of the crops will actually improve, because wastewater is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, which are nutrients for the plants. Farmers need to use less fertilisers,” Shatanawi said.
        Fayyad also said there are certain guidelines set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as to the quality of treated wastewater used in agriculture.
        “The Water Authority is responsible for generating effluent with a certain quality. And the Ministry of Health checks on that. In most cases, the water meets the required standards,” Fayyad said.
        But participants said that monitoring of water quality is not the biggest concern, but rather that the required infrastructure is in place.
        “The control of the [quality] of treated wastewater is good, the problem is that some treatment plants are exceeding their design capacity,” Fayyad said alluding to the overburdened Khirbet Al Samra wastewater treatment plant which treats the wastewater of Amman and Zarqa.
        Currently 8.5 per cent of the total Jordanian irrigated lands are irrigated with treated wastewater, consuming 80 per cent of all wastewaters generated in Jordan.
        Fayyad also mentioned the social component of the use of treated wastewater and said that raising awareness in this subject was needed.
        “Because it is wastewater, people consider that this water is dirty. The people will realise that when the water is treated, it can be reused. But they have to be educated on how to use this water,” she said.
        In order to increase the use of treated wastewater in Jordan, Fayyad said low-cost, decentralised wastewater treatment plants are needed. Wastewater should be treated on site.
        “Water generated in a certain industry should be reused in the same industry,” she said.
        The Dutch University of Wageningen is conducting the training course on the techniques of wastewater treatment and the ways such water can be reused. Participants are expected from Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Yemen, Libya and Oman. The course is held in cooperation with the University of Jordan's Water and Environment Research and Study Centre, the Dutch Delft Centre for Hydraulics and Environment, the World Health Organisation and the Jordan Water Authority.
        Jordan, with its high population growth, faces a growing gap between the ever-growing demand for freshwater and the decreasing water resources. Experts predict that Jordan's water deficit will rise from the current 220mcm in 1999 to 250mcm by the year 2010.


    The state of the water sector in Jordan (Jordan Times, 27/03/00
    Opinion article by Dr. Fahed Al Fanek
    As part of the privatisation programme, the Jordanian government has entered into a long-term contract with a specialised French company to manage the water network and distribution in Amman. Even though we support such a step as an effective way to reform the water sector, we have to admit that the people of Amman have not felt the difference. So far nothing has changed. The quality of the water utility, or lack of it, has remained more or less the same. Breakdowns continue. Water running down the streets of Amman is still a familiar sight. Let us hope that, when the French company has had sufficient time to correct the deficiencies accumulated over time, positive results will soon be evident.
    Until now the amount of water that is lost from Amman's network is 52 per cent, higher than Tunis — 21 per cent, Gaza — 31 per cent, and Casablanca — 34 per cent. It is comparable to Sanaa — 50 per cent, and Algiers — 51 per cent. Among Arab capitals, only Damascus with 64 per cent manages to lose more water.
    Even though there is some leakage into the ground — because part of the network is old and deteriorating — and some water leaks onto the streets, it is believed that a major part of the water is actually lost because of illegal extraction of water. Some illegal connections to the network are reputed to be known to the Water Authority but can only be stopped if the authority dares to face the offenders.
    Per capita share of water consumption in the Jordanian capital is less than 80 litres per day, which is rather low but looks reasonable compared to Tunis — 80 litres, Gaza — 70 litres, Algiers — 70 litres, and Sanaa — 50 litres, although the amount of water that would be comfortable ranges between 120 to 200 litres per person per day.
    When it comes to the sewage system, Amman fares well. The network covers 78 per cent of all houses in the city, which is slightly better than Tunis — 77 per cent, Algiers — 70 per cent, Casablanca — 70 per cent, Gaza — 25 per cent, and Sanaa — 22 per cent. The sewage network is supposed to serve 100 per cent of all houses.
    At another level we find that Jordanian staff, usually accused of laziness, remain more efficient, than others. The Jordanian Water Authority has 5.5 employees for each one thousand connections, against 6 in Casablanca, 7 in Gaza, 8.6 in Algiers, and 10 in each of Tunis and Sanaa.
    The major economic problem in the Jordanian water sector is the failure to recover the costs of operation and maintenance. The Jordanian Water Authority is expected to lose some JD50 million a year, which calls for either higher prices or improved efficiency of network management, or both. Privatisation is supposed to lead to just that, but will it do the miracle?
    (The figures, ratios and norms used in this article are based on a report on Water in the Middle East, issue by the World Bank)


    Donor organisation expresses 'surprise' at continuing water problems at Azraq (Jordan Times, 22/03/2000)
    A top official from an environmental group which has been funding the rehabilitation of the Azraq Oasis said he was surprised to learn that the oasis still faces critical water problems that endanger its bio-diversity. “We would want to see the evaluation of the project from the UNDP before we would entertain the idea of more funding,” Alfred Duda, head of the Global Environment Facility, told the Jordan Times. “I thought by now the problem would have been solved. Apparently, it still exists.”
    Duda told the Jordan Times during the Second World Water Forum at The Hague on Tuesday that he wanted to see a report from the United Nations Development Project on the Azraq Oasis to make sure the fund resolved the oasis' problems.
    Duda said the Azraq Wetlands Reserve rehabilitation programme, which was funded by GEF, aimed “to solve the problem of the overpumping” of the oasis.
    The GEF started a $1 million “pilot programme in 1994 to protect the oasis' bio-diversity. The oasis was a station for hundreds of migratory bird species, but the number of birds that pass through the oasis has diminished in tandem with dwindling water resources in the area. The facility granted an extension from 1997-1998, but this time included the Dana Reserve in the $2 million fund. “I hope this problem will be resolved before those thousands of attendants at the IUCN convening in October [in Amman],” Duda continued.
    In January, the Azraq National Conference was held to secure “a national commitment to address the Azraq issue,” said Khalid Irani, director general of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN).
    During the conference, participants agreed the oasis suffered from overpumping, waste of water in agricultural use and high salinity in surrounding lands. “In the oasis, the pumping to two major cities [Amman and Zarqa] is double the recharge rate,” Irani said, adding that during the last 15 years water metres dropped below ground level. At the same time, said Irani, “water is the core of the area's bio-diversity.” During the rehabilitation project, the RSCN was “to conserve the bio-diversity, [promote] eco-tourism, and develop socio-economic projects for the local communities in the Azraq,” Irani said.
    Other missions were to be handled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the Water Research Centre at the University of Jordan and the General Corporation for Environment Protection (GCEP). The missions ranged from drawing guidelines for the Azraq farmers, evaluating and drilling of aquifers, studies on deep aquifers, protecting the Ramsar site and developing environmental impact assessments (EIA) for the oasis.
    Irani said the project's first phase “concentrated on studies and guidelines of the site, while the second phase aimed to rehabilitate the oasis and to maintain the bio-diversity.”
    The RSCN website states: “With international support, a rescue effort started in 1994 and a significant portion of the wetland has been restored. Many of the birds for which the oasis was renowned are returning and special boardwalks and bird hides have been constructed to enable visitors to see and enjoy them.”
    Duda's remarks came after an announcement from GEF Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Mohammad Ashry that GEF will double its financial support to water and related land resources activities to a half billion dollars over the next five years, but maintained countries should start fixing water tariffs. “Free water is wasted water,” he continued. “GEF stands ready to assist countries in leveraging this support, but without better pricing policies, the large sums needed to reserve current degradation of water resources will not materialise.” “Governments must step up efforts to generate revenues and attract private investments for more efficient and equitable urban water, sanitation, and irrigation services,” Ashry added.
    At a press conference, Ashry said: “GEF resources will catalyse public and private investments in activities that simultaneously yield national, regional and global benefits.”
    He added that GEF will expand activities for protecting water resources from land-based sources of pollution, especially persistent organic pollutants.”


    Mahadin announces intention to issue tenders for exploitation of Hallabat and Lajoun aquifers (Jordan Times, 22/03/2000)
        The government will issue tenders for the exploitation of two aquifers next month to supply the cities of Amman, Zarqa and Karak with an additional 21 million cubic metres annually of fresh water, Minister of Water and Irrigation Kamel Mahadin said on Tuesday.
        Mahadin, who was speaking to journalists at The Hague on the fifth day of the Second World Water Forum, said a ministerial declaration drafted on Tuesday includes the exploitation of the Hallabat and Lajoun aquifers. The projects are expected to cost around JD18 million. It will be financed totally by the government. “We are speaking about a medium- to long-term project that is going to last for 30 to 50 years,” Mahadin told the Jordan Times on the sidelines of the press conference.
        The Hallabat aquifer, which is also known as the “corridor project,” will supply 10 MCM annually to Amman and Zarqa and is estimated to cost around JD10 million. The Lajoun aquifer is expected to supply 8 MCM annually of freshwater to Amman and 3 MCM to Karak and is expected to cost JD8 million.
        Mahadin said the Ministerial Declaration on Water Security in the 21st century — which will be finalised on Wednesday — is important. But he said “meeting representatives [of] private sector companies, to check out the possibilities of meeting, to study all the water problems” is even more important to Jordan. The minister said that most of the points of the declaration were already being implemented in Jordan. “We are — and will continue — to implement water rationing, water resource management, protection of our aquifers, privatisation and awareness raising.” “We will implement sensible recommendations, such as the sharing of water, sharing of data and information, seasonal water rationing, food for everyone,” Mahadin said. Mahadin also said that Jordan's goals are the better management of available water resources and finding new water resources to alleviate chronic water shortage. Privatisation of the water sector and the more efficient management of water used in municipalities and agriculture are the key points in water resource management. Projects to find new water resources are already envisaged in large-scale projects such as the planned exploitation of the Disi aquifer, the exploitation of brackish water in the Jordan Valley, the construction of the Wahda Dam between Jordan and Syria, seawater desalination and water import from Turkey, Mahadin said. He added that the last two projects could only be implemented with the participation of both Israel and the Palestinians and that it was hoped that Syria would also join in future cooperation in the area.
    Although there were several critical voices during the conference with regard to a global trend of privatising the water sector, Mahadin praised the work of Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, which has a major water and wastewater management contract for greater Amman.
        Several representatives of the trade union Public Services International (PSI) on Tuesday stated that the privatisation of the water sector worldwide has reflected negatively on populations. Services provided by private companies in general would not become more efficient and water costs would rise since the services of private multinational companies are profit-oriented. Also, PSI said, water is a common good and should not be controlled by multinational companies and banks. “When you look at these companies and who they're targeting, it is colonialism all over again,” said Hans Engelberts, general secretary of PSI during a press conference.
    But Mahadin said the government is satisfied with Jordan's limited experiment in water privatisation. “We are happy and content with it, and we want to promote it. Now, we have 30 per cent less customer complaints,” Mahadin said.
        Mahadin also called for the establishment of an Arab water council in order to jointly work on the water problems in the region. The main challenges stated in the draft Ministerial Declaration of The Hague on Water Security in the 21st Century are: To meet basic needs, recognising that access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation are basic human needs; to securing food supply through enhancing food security, particularly for the poor and vulnerable; to protect ecosystems by ensuring their integrity through sustainable water resources management; to share water resources, promote peaceful cooperation and develop synergies between different uses of water at all levels; to manage risk and provide security from floods, droughts, pollution and other water-related hazards; to value water by managing the resource in a way that reflects its economic, social, environmental and cultural values for all its uses; to move towards pricing water to reflect the cost of its provision; and to govern water wisely and ensure good governance.
        Ministers of 115 governments during the conference presented papers on their countries' water situation and possible solutions to their respective situations. The Ministerial Declaration should include the vision and ideas of all participating governments and recommend actions to solve the global water problems. The declaration will be finalised on Wednesday, World Water Day.


    Water managers LEMA get tough on abuse (Jordan Times, 14/03/2000)
        LEMA, a French firm contracted by the government in August to better manage Amman's water situation, said it will not tolerate illegal water exploitation and non-payment of water bills, two major violations that have long plagued the water sector. “We are very serious about cracking down on such abuse as the situation is critical,” LEMA Customer Services Director Michel Lesbros stressed during a recent interview with the Jordan Times.
        Over the past eight months, the company has assessed 30,000-40,000 illegal water connections, disconnected more than 10,618 subscribers and installed new internal caps to prevent any tampering with water connections.
        LEMA, a partnership between France's Lyonnaise Des Eaux and Jordan's Montgomery Arabtech Jardaneh, handles the Zai Water Treatment Plant which is responsible for supplying 40 per cent of the capital's water needs. In addition, it looks after 100 water wells, a 4,500km-long water network, 1,500km of sewers, two wastewater treatment plants and 270,000 subscribers.
        According to Lesbros, those persons who abuse their rights to water and those who illegally link their homes to the sewage system are behind 25-35 per cent of unaccounted water losses. Such losses reportedly cost the treasury JD15 million annually, according to official studies. “People have to pay for water, and we have an active programme to find illegal [water] connections — an issue that has not been tackled for a long time,” said Lesbros.
        Industry sources said the problem exacerbates around Amman's southern areas, including Jiza, where some influential residents “believe that they should get water for free.”  In these areas, residents could be consuming around 90 to 98 per cent of pumped water supplies illegally, they said.  They added that “insufficient” government policies over the past decades have failed to tackle such violations that have continued unabated.”
        In April, His Majesty King Abdullah met Lyonnaise Des Eaux Chairman Jerome Monod and said he hoped that Jordan would overcome its water shortage problem through cooperation with other nations and international organisations.
        Around 1.8 million people live in Amman, consuming 45 per cent of the country's 300 million cubic metres of domestic water supplies.
        Operating under a $55 million World Bank-backed project, LEMA has unveiled around 500 illegal sewerage connections, 139 of which have been disconnected. The firm, which had a similar experience in the Palestinian self-rule area of Gaza, runs major projects in several countries around the world, including the United States and Britain.
    Lesbros said LEMA pursues a “tough” billing policy. “We bill subscribers for water consumption, then we wait for 15 days, then we remind them [through public advertisements], we warn defaulters, and then we cut supplies,” he explained. “It is simple; if you do not pay for water, expect no supplies, and we mean it,” Lesbros said emphatically. “We are armed with a team of lawyers, who are ready to take violators to court.”
        LEMA began implementing a system of repayments over instalments to encourage major defaulters and other citizens to settle their bills. “Government institutions and other big consumers yielded to the move and began to regularly pay their dues,” said a water source.
        For years, many ministries and influential Jordanians have ignored their water bills, officials said. Around 500 serving and former officials with outstanding water bills to the government were requested last May to pay their obligations. No information on the payment of these outstanding bills has been made public.
    However, Lesbros said an unexpected problem appeared when some banks “suddenly” started to charge more than JD1 per water bill presented for payment by subscribers. “They [the banks] should have at least informed us in advance of their new regulations, so we could prepare ourselves,” said Lesbros, pointing to a 33-person deep line of subscribers who came to settle their bills at the Water Authority's newly-opened payment offices in Jabal Hussein.
        A woman complained that the JD1 charge by the banks was “robbery.” “Some of us can hardly find money to pay the bill. They [the banks] are just confused, do not realise what they are doing,” said the angry woman.
        The banks in question could not be immediately reached for comment.
        LEMA says it is also focusing on ways to improve staff performance. It has set up a training programme for those who read water meters and collect payments, a vital element in the firm's operations, according to Lesbros. “We realise the significance of these employees, so we are monitoring their work all the time through field and office inspections,” he said.
        Offices are using a especially-designed computer programme that analyses meter readings to determine if there are any discrepancies, mistakes or other problems and handle them. Hand-held computers will soon be given to those who read water meters to help avoid human error. These computers will also issue bills that will have to be settled at LEMA offices.
    Several residents in the affluent Western Amman areas have often said that some of those who read water meters often suggest to households that they can bill subscribers for a lesser amount of water in return for a bribe.  “There will no longer be payment collections by meter readers,” Lesbros said. “We have to make sure everyone working with us is honest, and we are trying to transform their thinking from a government way to a private sector one,” he said. “We have already sent 10 meter readers back to the Water and Irrigation Ministry,” said Lesbros, referring to those readers found guilty of impropriety. Under operating rules of the contract between LEMA and the government, the French firm cannot fire any Jordanian employees.
        LEMA is working hard to improve the capital's ailing network, which is blamed for over 20 per cent of water loss. “We are using state-of-the-art leak detection equipment that has enabled the company to replace 37,000 metres of broken pipelines and around 30,000 water meters during the past few months,” Lesbros said. “Amman's water network is in a very bad condition, which results in around 200 leaks a day — 10-20 times more than the rate in an ordinary system,” said Lesbros. “Solving such problems, will help us save a significant amount of water and extend the current rationing system of 36 hours a week.”
        The government last year unveiled a JD150-200 million plan to replace the capital's 50-year-old network. Water experts have often said that if “the government repairs the worn-out network, Jordan can save millions of cubic metres of water to meet its chronic shortage and delay the exploitation of the strategic Disi aquifer” in southern Jordan. The Kingdom, a largely desert country that needs every drop of water to cover its expanding needs, has plans to draw 100mcm of water from a 300,000-year-old non-renewable aquifer under a $730 million project.
        A newly-introduced complaints and control centre at the LEMA office in Jabal Hussein receives telephones calls from the public, locates their area on a computerised map of Amman and then issues a form that contains all necessary information the technicians need to know in order to repair a leak or technical failure. In the past, residents would wait for days, if not weeks, for repair crews to show up when there was a problem. “Everything then depended on `wasta' and palm greasing,” said one Amman resident.
        Munir Oweiss, LEMA's deputy executive director, said the Zai Water Treatment station, scene of a major crisis two years ago, has “fundamentally improved, thanks to round-the-clock monitoring and maintenance.”  “I reassure you that Zai has become a world class standard plant, which can compete with U.S. and European stations because of its modern equipment as well as professional and reliable technicians,” he added.  Zai normally pumps 1,200 cubic metres per hour, supplying 40 per cent of Amman residents and most of Balqa Governorate's with their domestic water. The summer 1998 technical failure of Jordan's sole surface water treatment plant resulted in a crisis following complaints of foul-smelling and murky supplies, mostly pumped by the station.
        LEMA's future plans will focus on promoting water conservation among children and help include its methods in educational curricula. “We are far away from solving the problem, and it is not easy to change people's long-time wrong practices and thinking,” said Lesbros. “One of our goals is to teach children and students that in a country like Jordan you have no choice but to save water,” he added. “It really hurts to see some people washing their cars everyday, while at the same time they are not sure about getting water the next day.”


    Studies in the hydrology at Petra, and lessons drawn (Jordan Times, 02/03/2000)
    By Zeidoun Muheisen (the author is Director General of the Petra Regional Council)
      The city of Petra is located in a dry, arid region where the average yearly rainfall is about 200mm. Hence we must ask how Petra was supplied with water when we try to explain the growth and development of the Nabataean capital. Until recently only a few canals especially in the Al Siq area and some reservoirs and wells were known. The scarcity of our knowledge about the distribution of water in Petra and fragmentary state of these few data prompted us to start this study on the hydrological system and aimed to increase our knowledge of the various ways of distributing water that were known. One of the study's most important results was a map of the hydrology of Petra, showing the locations of all the aqueducts, canals, reservoirs, wells, and dams. All of these data allowed us to estimate the density and distribution of the population within the city. We collected additional information about its plan, which was closely tied to the water distribution system. We also studied the various Nabataean Hydrological techniques, especially in connection with the protection of the city's water supply and methods for controlling floods during the rainy seasons.
        The area where the city was located was almost completely lacking in springs, except for one located in Wadi Siyyagh, situated in the city's western side. It was not a chief source of water for Petra, both because it did not yield enough water and because it was located below the site of Petra. Its main importance lay in the fact that it supplied one of the Nabataean sites in Wadi Araba with water. The water was conducted to the site, which was about 20-km to the west of Petra, by means of the canal in the Qasr Umm Ruttam area. There was also other places, for example the Qattar ed-Deir area, that contained sparse supplies of water, but they did not play any significant role in the hydrological system.
        The scarcity of water in Petra forced the Nabataeans to search for a radical solution to the water problem — only water could make it possible for the Nabataean capital to flourish and develop. The studies which we have carried out during the past few years have made it clear how extensive and dense the water distribution system in the city of Petra was. They also demonstrate the skill of the Nabataeans in developing new hydrological systems and new irrigation and agricultural methods for both semi-desert and true desert environments. The nature of the areas which they inhabited forced them to invent advanced methods of collecting rainwater in reservoirs, which could be carved out of the rock or built of stones. Such reservoirs are found, for example, in Beida (near Petra), in the Negeb desert, Wadi Rum, and Umm Al Jimal.
        There were a number of springs outside of Petra which the Nabataeans were able to use for supplying the city with water. Some of the most important were Ain Musa (about 7-km southeast of Petra), Ain Umm Sar'ab, Braq, and Dibdiba. The latter springs are in the town of Wadi Musa. Water from Ain Umm Sar'ab and Ain Musa passed through the Al Siq and Shub Qais areas before it reached the centre of the city. Braq is about 5-km south of Petra and used to supply the areas of Al Madhbah, Wadi Farasa, and the southern portion of the city. Dibdiba is about 6-km northeast of Petra and used to supply its northeast of Petra and used to supply its northern and northeastern areas. Water from these springs was distributed by means of a network of canals, some carved out of the rock, some built on arches or walks. Baked clay pipes were also used for distributing water.
        This hydrological system was organised and distributed with a precision which does not differ much from that of modern water systems.
        The hydrological network in Petra is evidence of the Nabataean's precision workmanship and their ability to control the speed of water, especially in the long canals coming from springs outside of the city. The study also revealed traces of two processes; repairing the network and maintaining the purity of the water.
        These processes must have cost a great deal, especially the process of purifying drinking water. This, in turn, points to the existence of an administrative authority in the city which was in charge of taking care of this vital process essential for the life and growth of the city.
        In addition to the central water network, there were dozens of private networks scattered through the various sections of the city. These networks depended on canals carved out of the rock for collecting rainwater. Runoff from the rocky mountains collected in reservoirs and cisterns. Some water was also collected behind dams that were constructed in the wadi. It should be noted that the private networks for collecting rainwater were known from early times, as we can see from the cisterns found in the Umm Al Bayyara region and from the sites dating back to the beginning of Nabataean settlement in the city. Diadorus Siculus says that the Nabataeans lived in an area devoid of springs and rivers, and that for this reason they had carved reservoirs out of the rock. This report contrasts with what the geographer Strabo wrote in the beginning of the first century A.D. He said that Petra had many springs which supplied the city with water for drinking and irrigating gardens and farms. The water networks to which we have referred support Strabo's account.
        The Nabataeans were not interested only in bringing drinking water or irrigation water for their gardens. They also cultivated large expanses of agricultural land in the area north of the city. They built dikes around these fields and constructed dams, reservoirs, wells, and canals within them. The fields and constructed dams, reservoirs, wells, and canals within source of food for Petra, since they were used for growing various kinds of grain, grapes, and olives. The study discovered a large number of grapepresses and mills for grinding wheat in the vicinity of Petra.
        These studies reveal the importance of Nabataean irrigation and agricultural techniques and indicate their potential value even for modern day farming. Much of the Nabataean hydrological system can be reconstructed.
        The reservoirs, pools and dams can be rebuilt or repaired, and since we are in urgent need of every drop of water at the present time we can benefit from these structures. It would also be possible to repair or reconstruct the Nabataean reservoirs and dams in Petra, Bayda, Wadi Rum and Umm Al Jimal. There are also Nabataean dams in the south especially in the region near Ikhneizira, Feifa, Al Tlaah, Wadi Amraq, and Ghor Al Safi. Reconstructing these dams would increase the area of cultivated land in these regions.

    1) This study, which also deals with the techniques used by the Nabataeans for conserving carved stone facades, has been submitted for publication
    2) For more information on this subject, see the following bibliography:
    Zeidoun Muheisen, Techniques Hydrauliques dans le Sud de la Jordanie en particulier a l'epoque Nabateen.
    The writer is Director General of the Petra Regional Council
     
     


    Delayed food aid to be distributed next week - Southern regions to receive allocations first (Jordan Times, 01/03/2000)
    By Dana Charkasi
        After several delays, the long-awaited distribution of emergency food aid will start next week in the southern governorates where people are suffering most, Assistant to the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture Salim Akour said on Tuesday.
        Originally, the food aid distribution was scheduled to start last Oct. 1 and end by May 31 when the new harvest is expected to relieve Jordan's current lack of cereal and other food commodities.
        The repeated delay was a result of donor countries' reluctance to contribute food aid to the Kingdom because the country's $1,560 per capita income is considered relatively high compared to other developing countries. After some commodities arrived late — until now, not all promised aid has arrived — the government decided to postpone the start of the distribution until the complete aid package was delivered.
        The government's decision to further delay the package has been criticised by the representative and country director of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Jordan, Bhim Udas.
        “They should have started with whatever was available. People need aid now. The time factor is very important in an emergency situation,” Udas said.
        “The dates arrived in December. They were donated by Saudi Arabia so that people during Eid Al Fitr would have dates. We hope now that people will have the dates at least for Eid Al Adha. The donor countries would like to see that beneficiaries are provided with food assistance when they need it most,” Udas added.
        “The German government is following up, but fully trusts Jordanian authorities in the quick distribution of food commodities to the beneficiaries in need,” First Secretary in the German Embassy Hans von Schr–der told the Jordan Times.
        Six donor countries, France, Japan, Germany, the U.S., Norway and Saudi Arabia donated food commodities worth $3.7 million to help the Kingdom provide 30,000 needy families with supplementary food.
        As part of the emergency food aid programme, WFP, in cooperation with several local NGOs, is also implementing so-called “productive activities” to “pay” participating Jordanians — all women — with food rations.
        One such activity is the planting of trees to rehabilitate forests, destroyed by sheep and goats due to lack of pasture land. The first planting activity took place on March 7 in cooperation with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and witnessed overwhelming participation of local women, indicating the urgent need for food and interest in the project, Udas said.
        Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture informed the WFP that the production of cereals will be reduced this year too since most of the farmers did not sow wheat and barley.
        Whether or not there will be a second phase of emergency food aid, will depend on the outcome of a survey the government is conducting to assess the production level of winter crops. The southern parts of Jordan are believed to be in a particularly critical situation.
        “The southern areas so far have only received less than 30 per cent of the average annual rainfall, further compounding the problematic condition stemming from the two-year drought,” Udas said.
     


    Yarmouk River basin development project to start in early March (Jordan Times, 28/02/2000)
    The Ministry of Agriculture has finalised preparations for the $28 million Yarmouk River basin development project in northern Jordan.
        Fathi Taifur, director of the Agriculture Department in Irbid Governorate, where part of the project is to be executed, said the six-year development of the basin is to start in March and is one of the most important schemes ever implemented by the ministry.
        The project is designed to increase food production and farmers' income, modernise land use methods and improve the soil conditions.
        The basin development project will also entail opening new agricultural roads for farmers to transport their products, introducing new methods for the farmers to obtain loans, building earth dams and digging irrigation canals, said Taifur.
        The official said financing for the scheme will be in the form of soft loans from the World Bank, the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the Jordanian treasury.
        Once completed, the project is expected to open job opportunities for engineers, technicians, accountants and other personnel, in addition to a large number of unskilled workers, according to Taifur. He estimated that at least 3,000 families will benefit from the project.
        Taifur noted that the project's central management will be located in Irbid which will oversee work in Mafraq, Ramtha, Bani Kinana and Irbid, all of which will benefit from this scheme.


    USAID to host courses on water project management, procurement (Jordan Times, 09/02/2000)
        A series of training courses on Project Management and Procurement begin on Feb. 8, in cooperation with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the Water Authority of Jordan and Jordan Valley Authority staff. The training, consisting of five modules to be presented over a two-week period, is being implemented by Chemonics International as part of USAID-funded host country contracting assistance, which provides training and technical support to the ministry in contract management. This training is a follow-up to training courses held in September and Oct. 1999 on the same subjects. It aims to enhance the staff's skills to manage the bidding and contracting process, and to work closely with contractors to ensure successful and efficient completion of water and wastewater projects.
        The training includes sessions in Infrastructure Management Policies and Practices; Project Identification and Design; Project Construction Supervision and Monitoring; USAID Host Country Contracting Procedures, and; Innovative Approaches to Project Infrastructure, to include concepts and issues related to private sector participation in the water sector.
        The Ministry of Water and Irrigation and USAID have had a long and positive relationship on a large number of projects that support the water sector in Jordan. Major projects have included construction of the King Abdullah Canal in the 1960's, construction of the Zarqa Triangle Irrigation Project in the late 1970's, and construction of the Irbid water and wastewater system and the Zai Water Treatment Plant in the 1980's.
        USAID has current and planned water and wastewater infrastructure projects totalling $400 million. Projects being planned or underway with USAID support include improvements and modifications to the Zai Water Treatment Plant, the water and wastewater system construction in Wadi Musa, the proposed rehabilitation of the Aqaba water and wastewater system, the North Shouneh wastewater collection and treatment project, the western part of Greater Amman water system rehabilitation project, and the proposed new Al Samra wastewater treatment plant.

    Cooperation on water resource management only way to ensure regional stability, environmental sustainabilty (Jordan Times, 02/02/2000).
    By Batir Wardam, World Conservation Union (UCN) - `Jordan-Programme Development Unit'.
    The jubilation following the long-awaited heavy snow and rainfall proves how much people have worried about possible droughts next summer. The water issue has really become a matter of national security.
    It was a good suggestion by Prime Minister Abdur-Raouf S. Rawabdeh to call for the establishment of a commission on `water and security' two months ago. Alas, nothing has materialised so far and the government's answer to the continued drought was to further exploit non-renewable ground water resources, while turning a blind eye to the illegal exploitation of groundwater through more than 500 unregistered wells owned by `fat cats'. A more disturbing alternative was the idea of importing water from Turkey to Jordan via Israel, a pipeline route that could hardly be designated `secure'!!!
        What we hope for is that such a committee, if ever established, will be formed from truly dedicated technocrats and scientists rather than a group of bureaucrats with a lot of paper work that nobody actually cares to read. Such committees usually end up with prepared statements on how the Government has succeeded in providing water and maintaining its purity.
        The water and security issue in Jordan and the Middle East is of great vitality since this region has virtually run out of water. So many potential sources of conflicts are being incarnated at an alarming rate, both interstate and intrastate. The term `security' itself is now taking new shape in international relations.
    Security has traditionally been dealt with as a strictly militaristic concept associated with security of borders and national institutions against threats from outside. Now researchers and scholars are moving away from that definition to a wider and more holistic approach encompassing environmental security in terms of equitable resource management and combating environmental degradation of life support systems.
    Such a concept is vital for the Middle East in particular. Water is the predominant environmental threat to the security of the region. His Majesty King Abdullah was among several leaders in the region to call for joint and collaborative efforts to combat water scarcity and distribution problems in the region. Otherwise, this issue might ignite violent conflicts in the future.
        Water Security could be defined within several criteria including stability of societies, inequitable distribution of water resources, scarcity and low affordability of water as well as degradation of water quality. All these elements, unfortunately, are reflected in the water dilemma in Jordan.
    An integral concept of water security is equity. This is manifested in the equitable sharing of affordable resources, which relates to regional, sectoral and intergenerational equity.
    Equity has emerged as an important key element of water security due to the fact that globalisation trends have increased the proportion of `marginalised' people around the world; those who are being `discriminated against' on the basis of access to economic power and capital. Equitable sharing of environmental (natural) resources is proving to be both ethically and an environmentally sustainable policy.
    Natural resources are becoming either a source of conflict or a point of cooperation. This will depend on the existence of conflict resolving traditions and mechanisms between states and between several stakeholders in the community. Unfortunately, the Middle East region does not have this, thus one of the main objectives of any plan to tackle water security issues will be to facilitate the establishment of such a mechanism.
    Shortages in water resources have reached crises levels. The per capita consumption of countries like Jordan has reached alarming scarcity. Compared to what is internationally conceived as adequate water consumption at 1000 cubic metres/year and water scarcity level at 500 cubic metres, Jordanians have a share of 350 cubic metres per capita. There is no common vision between states in the region on how to manage water crises especially in transboundary dimensions.
        Added to that, most freshwater resources of any single country originate from a neighbouring country. This will lead to conflicts of rights between riparian countries. The desire of one country to control the water resources originating from its territories or managing it individually may lead to negative reactions from neighbouring countries which get negatively affected (i.e. Turkey vs. Syria and Iraq).
    Several international agreements on water sharing have not been implemented or abided by. Even detailed peace treaties in some cases leave room for different interpretations of a single reference text (e.g. the Jordanian/Israeli peace treaty). There is a general lack of adherence to principles of International Law in arbitrating water issues.
    Most freshwater supplies are distributed as groundwater basins. Overexploitation of such non-renewable resources is occurring at an alarming rate. Moreover, water quality is falling and pollution is limiting its use for various purposes especially as drinking water. Treatment methods are proving inefficient and fall short of handling the pollution load.
        Water resources management in the region is subject to justified technical criticism. The planning is unsustainable, short-termed and unfair. There's a general lack of adequate national water policies. Most of the region's countries have developed national policies for water management, but these cycles were not completed or implemented in a manner that is environmentally sound and ecologically sustainable. In addition, these activities were not consolidated or coordinated with other water-based functions.
        Sectoral distribution of water supply is questionable. Agriculture consumes around two-thirds of supplies. Some of the crops are low-income high-water-consuming crops that contribute to the unsustainable use of scarce resource. In Jordan, agriculture contributes 10 per cent to GDP but consumes 74 per cent of water resources. However, this issue has social consequences that should be carefully dealt with.
        Groundwater basins are the principal victims of short-termed policies. They are over-exploited and in several cases unlicensed. Jordan is one of the countries that suffers most from such a situation. The flow of information on water is hindered, several bureaucratic procedures prevent the free access of information between interested parties within a country or between regional countries and institutes.
        There are social causes also for the emergence of water security problems. Ever increasing population growth in the region (the highest in the world, collectively) puts further stress on the already scarce water supplies. Provided the current rate of growth continues, a wide and dangerous gap between supply and demand will emerge and reach a point that makes its bridging a formidable and technically unfeasible task. Equity in distribution remains a challenge for all water management plans.
        At the economic level, further stress is exerted on water policies. Most of the economies in the region are in a transitional state between public sector dominance and on going privatisation. The long history of water subsidies which provided a base for family economies is difficult to change. An innovative economic tool should be developed to safeguard social security while implementing strategies aiming at providing a concrete base of water security for future generations by redefining the value of environmental resources (i.e. water).
        Most countries in the region are performing economic restructuring programmes under the guidance of the international monetary institutions. Incorporating water and security as an economic dimension is essential in expanding the domains of such programs and ensure its sustainability.
        While water management technologies are globally advancing at a very fast rate, technology in the region is still lagging behind and valuable water resources are being treated and managed with improper technologies and inefficient methods. There's a need to distinguish also between modern and proper technology. Some indigenous local technologies could be more environmental friendly than any non-conventional modern methods.
        The volatile political situation in the Middle East makes it vital that a consensus between countries on water resource management is reached. With political negotiations and emerging peace treaties providing hope for a sustainable future, the water issue is the single biggest potential danger hindering peace talks.
        This brings about a collective responsibility for countries in the region to bridge the political and `trust' gap between them in order to reach the required sense of stability and collaboration to diffuse environmental threats especially those pertaining to water.
        With so many political, to social, ideological and economic differences between countries in the region, only principles of environmental ethics and true sense of responsibility will be able to support sustainable development in the new millennium.


    An underdeveloped village tells its story of struggle against poverty (Jordan Times, 17/10/1999)
        A sleepy village lying on Jordan's northern banks of the Yarmouk River tells its story of poverty and unemployment through shabby little homes and an under-developed setting.
        Residents of the Upper Mukheibeh village located at the base of the Golan Heights, the heart of the Israeli-Syrian struggle since 1967, have blamed their turn of fortune on a 33-year-old decision to confiscate much of their fertile land to build the Khalid Ben Al Walid Dam.
        But their story is similar to many other residents of the Jordan Valley, the country's main food basket, who have given up on agriculture as a main source of income, leaving tens of hundreds of Egyptian, Pakistani and Bangladeshis to farm most of the vast plots of land. The dam never saw the light, leaving many Mukheibeh residents to survive on memories of the good old days when villagers were self-reliant and well-fed. “In 1966, the Jordan Valley Authority confiscated our lands to build the dam...The loss of our lands is the real reason behind our poverty,” town elder (Mukhtar) Ibrahim Dahash told the Jordan Times. Standing next to him, Mukhtar Mohammad Shawaheen nodded his head in agreement. “We have been trying to get our lands back to be distributed on all citizens...but nobody is listening to us,” said Shawaheen. “The authority's compensation, then, was not enough to buy bread for two weeks as they paid us between JD10 and JD15 per dunum,” recalled Dahash.
        Both men said the JVA, which seized around 2,000 dunums, promised to distribute JVA-owned lands in the area to families who did not own homes. “Some 800 families had to leave Mukheibeh because they did not get the promised lands having to find work elsewhere to survive,” Shawaheen said.
        Officials from the JVA have declined any comment.
        Mohammad Turky said water supplies once a week — like elsewhere across parched Jordan — has made the life of these villagers almost impossible. “Water is available only one day a week. And even then the water is so poorly pumped that it hardly reaches the tanks on their roof tops...our only alternative is to get water from nearby water springs,” added Turky, a blind and unemployed man. “Some people don't have water taps...they cannot afford paying their water bills...from where could they secure JD108 for subscription fees?” he said.
        Many of the village's remaining residents work on nearby farms according to seasonal demand. When work is available, villagers earn between JD1.5 to JD3 for a day's labour. Most families live on JD20 per month and are hopeful that better seasons will earn them between JD35 and JD60 a month. “I run from farm to farm to find a job. Sometimes months pass without me having a penny to feed my son...neighbours have been good to me...they give us something to eat in days like that,” said the widow of Husni Taroub. Her 24-year-old son is mentally challenged and her oldest son, Nayef, 30, is married but unemployed. “I can't ask Nayef to help me out...he can't help himself,” the woman said. Like most villages, each family consists of seven to 12 members.
        Mamdouh Ullayyan, a father of nine, suffers from asthma. He spends all his money on medication and is struggling to keep a roof over his children. “This is a life of beggars. Our monthly income rounds up to JD30. My husband brings me the money and I have to manage with what I have...and I cannot. How can I feed them and keep them dressed with JD30 a month? asked Ullayan's wife, Um Laith. “Debt is breaking our backs and everybody else's.”
        Ohoud Ma'alli, a ninth grader at the village's sole public school for girls, said many of her colleagues normally leave school at an early age because families cannot pay for their clothes or books. “Education is for free, we only pay JD4.15 per year for stationary...some girls live below the living standard and cannot even afford to buy clothes. Their family's cannot give them pocket money, either,” Ma'alli said.
        Some landowners in the village also have their grievances. They complain that many Mukheibeh residents are lazy and do not like to work. “Once, I even offered them to work on my land in return for some produce per harvest and they refused,” one landlord told the Jordan Times. Mukheibeh's younger generation could reflect his assessment. “All we care about is that we want to have sports facilities in the village. In all cases we are sitting around doing nothing, why not have a club with billiards tables to pass time?” said Mahmoud, 20, surrounded by some 30 boys and young men. They all shook their heads in agreement.
        Mahmoud said public transport was not available to take them to nearby Northern Shouneh for them to find jobs. “If you take a taxi cab you'll end up paying the money you have earned. It's really not worth it,” Mahmoud said.

    Maraqa dismisses allegation of continued contamination of Zai's water plant (Jordan Times, 14/09/1999)
    Amman (by Saad G. Hattar) — Minister of Health Ishaq Maraqa on Monday stressed that water supplies from the Zai Water Treatment Plant meet international standards and dismissed recent remarks by a ministry official who claimed the plant's output was still contaminated.
    “The official's statement is baseless and it badly affects the country,” Maraqa told the Jordan Times. “The water coming from Zai is not contaminated.”
    On Sunday, Health Ministry official Ahmad Arafat stirred a controversy when he said at the national water conference that water treated at the Zai was still contaminated.
    Last summer, Amman residents faced a water crisis when authorities discovered that water from the Zai plant was contaminated and they were forced to shut off supplies in order to clean up the problem.
    Arafat's allegations drew mixed reactions on the second day of the conference.
    While Lower House Deputy Salameh Hiyari supported Arafat's claim, participants from the Water Ministry criticised him and sought to discredit his remarks.
    Maraqa said he questioned Arafat about his “groundless remarks,” and the official “apologised” for the incident.
    The minister said punitive measures had been taken against Arafat, but did not disclose the nature of the measures.
    “Only in less than one per cent of the cases are the standards of Zai supplies detected to be slightly below qualifications, a percentage which does not merit any concern,” Maraqa explained.
    The minister said such slight aberrations “do not affect the quality of water, nor does it affect the health of consumers.”
    Otherwise, he said, the ministry would immediately take action and halt supplies from the plant.
    Water from the Zai Treatment Plant covers nearly 60 per cent of the needs of Greater Amman, the biggest consumer of the country's potable water, estimated at 300 million cubic metres a year.
    Maraqa said the Health Ministry, in cooperation with international parties, conducts hundreds of various lab tests per year to check the quality of Zai waters.
    After the incident the Health Ministry replaced Arafat with Hussein Khandaq, who conceded that differences existed between the health and water ministries, but that the situation was under control.

    Water conference concludes with call for supervision over water plants (Jordan Times, 14/09/1999)
    AMMAN  (by Ruba Saqr)— The National Water Conference concluded its  sessions on Monday with a call for greater governmental supervision over water treatment plants, saying that the contamination of the 1998 Zai Water Treatment Plant example should not be repeated.
    A panel which inspects national water institutions and recourses was among the recommendations set by the conference.
    NWC, organised by the Jordan Engineers Association, proposed rationing water consumption according to national priorities, saying that the agricultural sector, which consumes 70 per cent of the Kingdom's annual water amounts while producing a financial return of only five per cent, has to be revised and supervised.
    Jordan's rights in river and underground waters should be preserved by impartial treaties and agreements with neighbouring countries, the conference organisers said.
    The conference also urged the government to take steps towards preserving traditional and non-traditional water resources.
    “Water pollution should not continue... and recycling of grey and black waters should be implemented in factories and houses,” Ma'an Abu Afifeh said.
    The conference also called for major amendments in the laws and regulations of the Water Authority and the Jordan Valley Authority.
    Organisers and participants urged the government to issue a unified law on water and environment, saying that it is every citizen's right to secure clean and uncontaminated water.
    “Social and economic justice should be preserved in the distribution of water so each citizen can secure a justifiable quantity and quality of water according to his (her) needs,” the paper of recommendations applied.
    In closing, the water conference called for forming a central information centre and central laboratories that give “honest figures on water issues.”

    National water conference opens (Jordan Times, 12/09/1999)
    Amman (by Ruba Saqr) — A three-day national conference on water scarcity and contamination is exploring ways to tap into solutions to general water problems, including upgrading and protecting existing water resources and water rationing.
    The National Water Conference, organised by the Jordan Engineers Association, aims to promote water awareness and evaluate the quantity and quality of surface and underground water in Jordan.
    Kamel Radaideh, head of the conference's organising committee, said that the contamination in 1998 of water flowing to the Zai Water Treatment Plant prompted a national discussion of the water issue and highlighted not only the country's water shortage problem, but a water quality problem.
    Radaideh also said that the responsibility for the water shortage should be shared between the decision-maker and the citizen.
    “Seventy per cent of our available water resources are used for agricultural purposes with a five per cent financial return ... This demands balancing national consumption and putting efficient plans to end the drought and pollution problems,” Radaideh said.
    Minister of Water and Irrigation Kamel Mahadeen, on behalf of Prime Minister Abdur-Ra'uf S. Rawabdeh, said the government's priorities include securing water resources through two major projects: exploitation of the Disi aquifer in the south and storing water in Al Wihdeh Dam.
    “The government will construct new dams. The ones we already have will cover the Kingdom's needs for the following three years,” the minister said.
    He also said that 20 underground water wells, now being used to meet this summer's water deficit will be closed at summer's end and reopened next year. He added that the emergency wells will be halted until needed.
    “A plan will be set to decrease over-consumption by 20 per cent of the annual rate,” Mahadeen said.
    The conference hosts 32 experts, including politicians and decision-makers, with papers tackling water legislation, treatment, rationing and investment.
    “The Jordan Valley regulations will be amended, as we feel we have been remiss in supervising this sector,” Mahadeen said.
    On the sidelines of the conference, an exhibition at the Royal Cultural Centre introduces Jordanian water treatment corporations to practical ways of rationing water consumption. Posters for spreading water conservation awareness are being given away for free.
    The conference, which concludes on Monday, will forward a paper of recommendations to help overcome the Kingdom's chronic water problem.

    Lack of long-term solutions to water problem 'will lead to catastrophe' (Jordan Times, 23/8/1999)
    By Ahmad Khatib
    AMMAN — As Jordan is tapping the very last of its water resources to overcome a chronic water shortage and an immediate drought, experts warn that the absence of comprehensive and long-term solutions “will lead the country to a catastrophe.”
    Water experts and conservationists say a “tunnel vision on the part of water strategy makers and unsustainable projects are depleting the country's water resources, including non-renewable aquifers, for good.”
    “Although the Kingdom's water resources are limited and scarce, the government never considers this issue when it implements its water plans,” an independent water expert told the Jordan Times on Sunday.
    Among the 510 million cubic metres of water pumped from private and public wells, only 275mcm are taken within safe parameters, according to the authorities.
    Jordanians will have to live with chronic water shortage in an arid country that relies mainly on rainwater to meet domestic, industrial and agricultural needs, tapped from surface water resources such as rivers, and non-renewable groundwater sources.
    This year's drought, officially-declared the worst in five decades, exacerbated the situation as poor rainfall dipped to just two per cent of the annual average, causing more than 10 per cent of water shortage.
    Officials argued that the Kingdom needs every drop of water to meet such requirements.
    "What shall we do? Either the government continues to find more water resources to cope with such shortage to be able to preserve the economy and tourism as well as supply people with their needs, or let the whole country suffer,” a senior official, who requested anonymity, explained.
    As part of the Water and Irrigation Ministry's three-step contingency plan to stave off this summer's shortage, tens of wells have been drilled in various parts of Jordan to supply additional 24 million cubic metres, according to Minister Kamel Mahadin.
    “By such measures, we managed to overcome the past few months without problems, and we plan to shut down those wells next month,” newspapers quoted Mahadin as stating.
    But water specialists disagree with the minister, saying “well-studied, balanced and long-term plans should have been prepared long ago to handle the crisis.”
    “What is Jordan going to do in the future? Does the government have any plans on how to handle the water situation after, for example, 10 or 20 years?” asked a water expert and an environmentalist.
    Jordan's population is expected to increase from 5.3 million in 2000 to more than eight million by 2020 — when the country's freshwater resources will be fully exhausted. The Kingdom's current water resources only amount to 960mcm a year, while the water deficit, projected to grow to 250mcm by 2010 from 220mcm in 1995, is being covered through the use of groundwater resources, some non-renewable.
    “Instead of drilling more wells and exploiting non-renewable aquifers, considered the country's strategic reserves, the government, for instance, should repair worn-out water networks that are leaking and being illegally used all the time,” a former official and a water expert said.
    According to the government, 55 per cent of the water pumped to citizens is lost due to both worn-out networks and illegal water use, reportedly costing the country around JD15 million a year. Frequent pipe bursts and seepage through the country's ageing water infrastructure are also costing the country millions of cubic metres of water a year.
    Officials insist they have a JD200 million scheme to rehabilitate and modernise water distribution networks.
    “Controlling the privately-owned wells, which are mainly used for agriculture, will for sure help the Kingdom fend off its critical water situation,” the independent expert stressed.
    Among the 1,654 privately-run water wells, 528 are unlicensed. Abusing those wells, which annually pump around 500mcm although their quota was set at 50,000cm for each, continued “as the government failed to deal with their influential owners,” industry sources say.
    Mahadin has declared “that no one is above the law, and that the ministry has a plan to handle this problem,” but no measures against such depletion were announced.
    Deputy Salameh Hiari, member of the Lower House of Parliament's Committee on Water and Agriculture, criticised the government's “so-called achievements in the water field, as what is happening is in fact a continuos sinning against the citizens.”
    “The authorities' water projects do nothing but increasing the salinity in water wells and aquifers, causing more and more depletion,” said the legislator, who headed the committee during last year's water crisis and was outspoken about it. “Brave and decisive decisions must be taken to stop such aggression against our most scarce and sacred natural resource.”
    The ministry plans to extract water from the 300,000-year-old Disi aquifer, under a $730 million project, expected to supply Amman with 100mcm by the year 2005. Millions of cubic metres of water from the strategic aquifer are currently used for agriculture and other purposes in the south.
    Several columnists slammed the “insufficient” way the ministry deals with the water problem, as well as agricultural methods, which severely abuse the water and destroy the environment.
    An official was quoted by the press as saying that the “whole water sector should be totally restructured and reformed, getting rid of insufficient water policies for good.”
    As climatic changes reduce rainfall levels and the population continues to grow, there seems to be no definitive solution to the ever-widening gap between Jordan's water supply and demand, water experts warn.

    Government seeks $145 million to fund wastewater treatment plant (Jordan Times, 17/8/1999)
    AMMAN (J.T.) — The government is currently seeking funds to set up a $145 million wastewater treatment plant next year in the Khirbet Al Samra area, near Zarqa, to aid the over-taxed and toxic sewage treatment station.
    Minister of Water and Irrigation Kamel Mahadin told the Zarqa Chamber of Industry that the proposed station, which was scheduled to be constructed in the late 1980s, aims to assist the Khirbet Al Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is currently working over capacity.
    The 14-year-old Khirbet Al Samra was established to treat Amman's wasterwater, but later began to handle the sewage of Zarqa and Rusiefeh — a factor that sharply affected the plant's efficiency in dealing with such substances, officials and experts say.
    The government, two months ago, stopped pumping water from the King Talal Dam, which is supplied by Khirbet Al Samra because of “high levels of salinity and toxic substances.” Small amounts of water from the dam are currently being used after they are mixed with water from the King Abdullah Canal to irrigate crops in the central valley.
    The government and a Swedish firm is currently studying a JD330 million plan to establish several treatment plants to handle industrial wastewater in the area for the coming 26 years, according to Mahadin.
    The minister said there are “wastewater treatment problems” with 20 factories in Zarqa, as those factories do not handle their refuse “sufficiently.”
    He gave no details on how the government is going to deal with those factories.
    In 1991, the government shut down more than 10 factories in Zarqa for failing to adhere to environmental protection laws, but all factories resumed operation after only 24 hours.
    Meanwhile, during an inspection visit to the Mafraq governorate, Mahadin announced that 79 per cent of the water pumped to the area is lost due to leaks in the water network and illegal use.
    The government has said it was working to replace all broken water networks in order to lower the estimated 55 per cent loss rate and prevent “irresponsible and illegal” water use, which reportedly costs the country around JD15 million a year.
    The ministry spent JD11 million to repair the Irbid governorate's water network to contain leakage, estimated at 58 per cent of the total supply. But water losses dropped by only 11 per cent, which, he said, meant that 47 per cent of water is still used illegally.
    Several government studies will be conducted throughout the Kingdom to determine the extent of water losses, and more laws will be enacted to stop illegal use, the government has said.
    As part of its plans to deal with this problem, the government contracted several foreign companies to manage all water-related matters in Amman.

    New farmers federation board faces water shortage, marketing challenges (Jordan Times, 17/8/1999)
    By Mohammad Ben Hussein
    AMMAN — The newly-elected board of directors and the chairman of the board of the Jordan Farmers Federation will have to deal with heavy financial burdens that saddled the former federation for around 25 years, observers said on Monday.
    Around 90 members of the JFF general assembly on Sunday elected the chairman and the 10-member board of directors amid general frustration among farmers who feel that the profession now hangs by a thread due to the chronic water shortage problem facing the country and external marketing challenges.
    Hassan Nabulsi and his green list bloc swept nine seats out of the council's 11 seats. Two independent contenders clinched the remaining two seats.
    As expected, in a country where family ties have traditionally overpowered political strength, most board members won their seats because of their tribal affiliation, said an observer who did not wish to be named.
    The main challenge for the new board will be seeking funding from international NGOs to help farmers secure production inputs.
    The JFF replaced the 25 year-old farmers federation which was overburdened with financial problems resulting from farmers defaulting on loans.
    One farmer protested against having only 11 board members, although the country has 13 branches in 12 governorates.
    The JFF law has to be amended to include one member from each branch, so that all areas are represented, said Ayid Al Wer, a farmer.
    “The new board of directors must build strong bridges with farmers and encourage them to join the union,” said Wer.
    Only 3.3 per cent of Jordan's 91,000 farmers are members of the federation.
    In the Jordan Valley, the Kingdom's food basket, only 500 farmers out of the 5,000 farmers are federation members.
    The disappointing number of members is blamed on the general poor economic situation and the short period given to farmers to join the federation, said Wer.
    Farmers' frustration comes from their previous experience with the former federation, which failed to meet their expectations.


    Tighten your taps: Water Ministry announces summer rationing programme, (Jordan Times, 12/5/1999).

    The Ministry of Water and Irrigation on Tuesday announced that it will implement a new water rationing programme in the Kingdom as of Saturday as part of its contingency plan to meet this  year's projected 10 per cent water shortage due to a regional drought.
    In a copy of the programme made available to the Jordan Times, the  ministry said it will pump water 24-36 hours a week to Amman, home  to almost half of Jordan's population of 4.6 million. The capital consumes 45 per cent of the country's total drinking water — 300 million cubic metres.
    Following is the new rationing system in the capital, which has borne a water rationing regime almost every summer for the last 10 years.

    Saturdays
    Jabal Hussein, Jabal Nuzha, Al Hussein Camp, Jabal Qusour, Abdali, Wadi Haddadeh, Qal'ah, Kherfan, Muhajerin, Misdar, Ras `Ain, (lower) Nathif, the Muraqqab Housing, (lower) eastren Sweileh, Kamalieh, (higher) Jubeiha, downtown, Yadoudeh, the Industrial Zone, the Television Housing, Muqablein, Wadi Seer and Abu Alanda.

    Sundays
    Abdoun, Tabarbour, Prince Hassan suburb, a part of Arajn, Hashmi Shamali, Hashmi Janoubi, Nayfeh, Naser, Hamlan, the Racing Club, astren Sweileh, (higher) Jubeiha, Ghazali Housing, Shafa Badran, western Safout, the Industrial Zone, Juweideh, Um Hiran, Sahab, Abu Alanda and the Al Hussein Medical Centre.

    Mondays
    Sweifieh, Deir Ghbar, 3rd and 4th Circles, Hashmi Shamali, Hashmi Janoubi, Naser, Hamlan, the Racing Club, Abu Nseir (area 3,4,5,8), Shafa Badran, (lower) Na'our, (lower and central) Marj Hamam, Abu Alanda, the Industrial Zone and Wadi Seer.

    Tuesdays
    Shmeisani, Sports City, Jabal Amman from the 4th to the 5th Circle, (upper) Arjan, Rashid suburb, Ashrafeieh, Nathif, Marrikh, Wihdat, Tajj, (upper) Jufeh, Manarah, Jordan University Housing, Abu Nseir (areas 1,2,6 and 7), Raoudah housing, the Al Hussein Medical Centre, (lower) Queismeh, (central) Na'our and Marj Hamam, Um Summaq, the Industrial Zone and Prince Rashid suburb.

    Wednesdays
    Northern and central Um Summaq, (lower) Khelda, Um Utheinah, Rashid suberb, Ashrafieh, Nathif, Marrikh, Wihdat, Tajj, (upper) Jufeh, Manarah, Sports City, Old Jerash Road, (upper) Queismeh, Na'our and Marj Hamam, the General Intellegence Department in Medina Tabiyyeh, Kursi, Jandawil and the 7th Circle Safeway area.

    Thursdays
    Um Utheinah, Rabieh, Abu Qurah Mosque area, northern Marka, Akhdar, Rashid, Dawahi Hotel area, eastren Safout, Queismeh, the Amman National Park and eastren Zuhour.

    Fridays
    Nazzal, Tla' Ali, Garden Street, (upper) Kheldah, the Yarmouk Housing, Um Utheinah, Rabieh, northern Marka, Abu Nseir (areas 1,2, 6 and 7), Hummar, Queismeh, Abu Alanda, Um Qutten, Um Amad and (upper) Jandaweel.

    The University of Jordan and the University hospital will get water on a daily basis from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

    Customer service hotlines
    In northern Amman: 541-2130 and 541-1130.
    In southern Amman: 416-723 and 464-023.
    In western Amman: 541-1130 and 541-2130.
    In other areas in Amman: 569-7156, 569-7149, 569-7141, 477-7132, 489-7468 and 477-7133.

    The ministry's complaint lines are:
    566-1382, 566-1396, 566-1526 and 566-1536.