Jordan Times
Tuesday, October 9, 2001
JVA experiments with brackish water for irrigation
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN — The Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) is experimenting with the use of brackish water to irrigate some crops in the valley, an authority official said on Monday.“The goal is to make a proper and sustainable use of brackish water in planting crops that can withstand certain levels of saline in the southern parts of the valley,” said Elham Abu Eisheh, director of the water studies department at the JVA.
Another vital objective is to narrow the gap between the water demand and the water supply in the valley, she said.
Even though 70-75 per cent of Jordan's water supplies annually go to the agricultural sector, production covers a mere 30 per cent of the people's needs in the Kingdom per year.
The experimental area, where several farms will be used, extends over 60 kilometres in the valley, from Wadi Kufranjeh to the Dead Sea.
The potential capacity of brackish surface and underground water in the area is estimated at 100 million cubic metres (mcm).
“Since desalination is very expensive, the authority's project aims to plant crops that can partly or totally withstand high saline percentages, such as tomatoes, aubergines, fodder, wheat, barley and olives,” said Abu Eisheh.
The normal saline percentage in irrigation water is less than 2,000 milligrammes per litre. “The saline percentage in brackish water is around 5,000 milligrammes per litre,” said the official.
According to an informed source at the JVA, around 60,000 dunums in the valley have existing water networks but no water supply.
“The only possible way is to supply these dunums with brackish water,” said Abu Eisheh, adding that the project will end in late 2003.
The German Agency for Technical Corporation (GTZ) is financing the project with JD1,660,000, and the government is providing JD200,000.