AMMAN –– A former water minister
and expert on the water situation in Jordan on Monday told lawmakers that
Jordan can harvest
water in the underground sandstone layers, which contain
water that is capable of meeting the country's potable water needs for 500
years to come, and if used for other purposes, can last for 684 years.
اضافة اعلان
Munther Haddadin, who assumed
the water ministry portfolio during the 1990s, made his remarks on Al-Mamlaka
TV amid a public denouncement of an
energy-for-water declaration of intent that
was signed in November between Jordan, UAE, and Israel, under which Jordan
would supply Israel with energy and receive 200 million cubic meters of desalinated
seawater.
The declaration was signed on
the sidelines of
Dubai Expo 2020, triggering a wave of public protests and demands
by anti-normalization activists as well as experts for the government to seek
alternative solutions to the water shortage problem.
During a meeting with the House
Agriculture, Water and Badia Committee, Haddadin said that Jordan's renewable
water resources are insufficient to meet the country's needs.
A recent infographic by the
government showed that water per capita in Jordan is 90 cubic meters annually, way lower than the international water
poverty per capita share.
Haddadin said that the water per
capita should reach 1,700 cubic meters annually to meet all the water needs for
potable, household, and food production purposes.
Head of the committee, lawmaker
Mohammad Al-Alaqmeh said that Haddadin was invited to present his views on the
water situation in Jordan after the House referred the "water file"
to the committee to prepare a report on the matter.
The committee has been meeting with a number of water experts and stakeholders
before drafting and submitting the report to
Parliament. Alaqmeh said he expected the report to be
ready in three weeks.
Haddadin told the committee that
the water situation could not be assessed without accurate data on energy,
adding that when he was in office in 1996, the water ministry dug wells in
different locations to explore underground water deposits.
He insisted that mining
sandstone water is cheaper than water desalination and easier to transport,
noting, however, that he is not against the
National Water Conveyance Project,
which is designed to desalinate Red Sea water, which alongside the quantities
expected from Israel, will meet the growing demand on water, especially as
Jordan is hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees and foreign labor.
"In all cases",
Haddadin said, "a cheap and environment-friendly source of energy is
needed for the desalination project, and when that is available, the project
can be resumed, but for now, priority should be given to utilizing sandstone
resources."
Water expert Amer Al-Shobaki disagreed
with Haddadin, describing the latter's ideas as "unrealistic," insisting
that sandstorm water is not potable and needs desalination, let alone that it contains
radioactive minerals.
Shobaki suggested that the
solution to the water problem lies in preventing water waste, which constitutes
50 percent of the available quantities, which he said can be achieved through
maintenance of water distribution networks and prevention of water thefts.
Read more National news
.jpg)
.jpg)
