Jordan Times
Thursday, August 26, 1999
Agreement reached on Jordan's extraction of
Yarmouk's water
By Ahmad Khatib
AMMAN — Jordan and Israel on Wednesday agreed that the Kingdom directly extract 1.5 million cubic metres of water from its share in the Yarmouk River as part of efforts mainly aimed to stave off this year's regional drought, informed sources said.
During a “positive and candid” meeting held in the Jordan Valley, joint technical teams “agreed in principle that as soon as Israel gives Jordan the go-ahead, it can directly get the amount until mid-October,” the sources told the Jordan Times last night.
Several weeks ago, the Kingdom made its request that only this summer it carries out this water sharing term in order to help meet its 10 per cent water shortage caused by the drought.
“As a result, the water taken from Lake Tiberias will be reduced, but no changes will occur on the total amount of water agreed to in the peace treaty,” one source stressed.
Under the peace deal, in summer, Israel transfers to the Kingdom 20mcm from the Jordan River, while the Kingdom is entitled to an annual quantity of 10mcm of desalinated spring water diverted from the river. Until a desalination plant is set up to provide Jordan with 50mcm annually of treated brackish water flowing into the Jordan River from the Israeli side, according to the agreement, Israel will supply the Kingdom with 25mcm a year from Lake Tiberias, as agreed to a 1997 joint meeting.
The Kingdom normally stores its water share of the river in Tiberias in winter to reclaim it in summer, as Jordan has no capabilities to keep the amount in its territories.
“The final decision has to be approved by the two countries' leaderships,” said another source. “The new regulations are of deep political indications.”
Israel has said its acceptance of the Kingdom's proposal “aims to show its goodwill towards Jordan.”
“The measures also show that Jordan and Israel are working together to cope with their water shortage,” added the source.
Several months ago, Jordan and Israel reached a compromise in a water dispute erupted in April when Israel proposed cutting 40 per cent of water supplies to the Kingdom because of poor rain.
As the region this year was severely hit by the worst drought in 50 years, Jordanian and Israeli officials agreed on the need to find short- and long-term solutions for the a pressing water crisis, getting even worse with an average less than 250 millimetres of rain a year, while at the same time a population of 12 million people is currently increasing by more than two per cent annually.
To handle the shortage, the government designed a three-step contingency plan, drilled several water wells and took 8.5mcm of water from Syria.