Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 14, 1998
Water ministry announces plans to increase output from
Disi aquifer
By Francesca Ciriaci
AMMAN — The underground waters of the Disi aquifer, in
southern Jordan, will soon be pumped out and piped to Amman for
domestic use at the rate of 100 million cubic metres (MCM) per
year, officials have told the Jordan Times.
“We could say that the realisation of the project is
imminent,” Qussay Qutayshat, secretary general at the
Ministry of Water and Irrigation, said yesterday.
“We are planning to act on a ‘Build, Operate, and
Transfer’ [BOT] basis,” he added.
Jordan is currently exploiting around 60 MCM of Disi water yearly
for agricultural use.
“We intend to use that water to meet Amman’s domestic
and municipal demand, as well as increase the flow to the rate of
100 MCM per year,” Minister of Water and Irrigation Munther
Haddadin told the Jordan Times in a recent interview.
The Disi aquifer is part of an extensive sandstone formation
which runs under North Africa, the Fertile Crescent and Saudi
Arabia, the minister said.
“As a function of location, water quality changes. It is
brackish in the Negev, a bit brackish in Wadi Araba, and sweet in
Disi,” according to Dr. Haddadin.
He added that Jordan has already notified neighbouring Saudi
Arabia through the appropriate diplomatic channels of its
intention to exploit Disi water.
“The Jordanian use, however, will not affect Saudi Arabia or
vice-versa, as long as we both pump the water away from our
borders,” Dr. Haddadin said, adding that Saudi Arabia is
already exploiting its underground water.
“This is fossil water, and not renewable water, so there is
no risk that neighbours could affect each other, as it happens
when one country intercepts the flow of a river,” Dr.
Haddadin explained.
According to official figures, Jordan’s renewable water
resources are 750 MCM a year, well below the annual consumption
of one billion cubic metres.
The ministry also estimated that the Kingdom’s water deficit
in all uses will grow from about 222 MCM in 1995 to 251 MCM by
the year 2011.
Jordan recently secured $630 million in grants and loans for
water projects to be implemented over the next five years, in the
framework of a huge Water Sector Investment Programme for the
coming 14 years.
Additional water supplies were central to the 1994 peace treaty
with Israel.