Jordan Valley Authority Secretary-General Engineer Hisham Al-Haisa said His Majesty King Abdullah II stressed in his speech yesterday the importance of continuing efforts to protect national resources and strengthen water security, describing them as among the country’s top priorities and essential to ensuring sustainable water supplies for future generations.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking during an interactive session of the Government Communication Forum today, Al-Haisa said these directives provide a guiding framework for public action and a roadmap based on innovation and maximizing the use of every drop of water.
Al-Haisa said Nakhila Dam has reached its final stages, noting that the authority is working to make use of rainwater. He said the dam’s complete designs are expected to be ready during the current winter season.
He added that, as part of efforts to develop innovative solutions, the authority is working on a project involving underground dams. The concept is based on constructing subterranean dams, with all potential valley sites studied, including Wadi Al-Hidan, Wadi Al-Hasa and Wadi Al-Rayyan.
The study was completed last week and showed that Wadi Al-Rayyan would be the first site suitable for construction based on economic feasibility. The project will then move to the design phase in preparation for constructing Jordan’s first underground or subsurface dam.
Al-Haisa said another solution under consideration is the use of water from Al-Karamah Dam despite its high salinity levels. He noted that work is currently underway to utilize 4 million cubic meters of floodwater stored in Al-Karamah Dam, while the authority is in contact with an international company to explore desalination of the dam’s water.
He said the authority is also working to provide two water sources for each agricultural basin instead of relying on a single source. This is being implemented alongside measures related to wastewater treatment plants and the use of treated wastewater for agricultural purposes.
Source: Al-Ghad
