AMMAN — Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Al-Najjar discussed the water-for-energy
agreement with Israel and the UAE and responded to concerns from previous water
ministers on Friday, local media reported.
اضافة اعلان
“Within
a month, we will announce our 2023–2040 water strategy, which depends only on
sources of water that we have control over,” he said, according to
Khaberni.
“We
will not introduce water sources from other states or from another side,” he
added.
Najjar
argued that any
imported water would be a supplement that allows Jordan to
shore up its groundwater reserves by “closing wells and leaving them for 10 to
20 years until they recover”.
“Within a month, we will announce our 2023–2040 water strategy, which depends only on sources of water that we have control over. We will not introduce any water sources from other states.”
On
November 22, 2021, Jordan signed a declaration of intent with Israel and the
UAE to sell Israel electricity in exchange for desalinated Mediterranean water.
US climate envoy John Kerry backed the deal.
Last
month, the Israeli water company Mekorot announced that it would begin pumping
desalinated Mediterranean water into Lake Tiberias, and an Israeli official
told local media that “Israel would be able to solve its
water issues for the
next 30 years, including providing Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza with this
resource.”
A
Jordanian official, on condition of anonymity, said that “Israel usually pumps
water into Jordan, under the peace deal, from Lake Tiberias, and there is
nothing special in that. But it would probably be the first time if Israel
sends desalinated water from the Mediterranean.”
GroundwaterJordan
currently plans to establish its own National Water Carrier to bring
desalinated seawater from Aqaba to the rest of the country at the cost of $2.5
billion.
The
government has recently agreed to a $213 million loan with the European
Investment Bank to finance the project. Najjar said the project is now 60
percent financed, with declarations of interest from Arab states.
The
government has faced criticism from previous ministers over its water strategy.
Former
water minister Hazem Al-Nassar said in November that the government had dealt
with the issue of groundwater superficially and without due consideration.
He claimed
that using
ground water would be cheaper than the National Water Carrier Project
and stressed that dealing with Israel carries a political cost.
Another
former water minister, Motasam Saidan, argued in December that the Jordanian
water network could not absorb the quantities of water that Jordan plans to
import from Israel.
“But what depths is the groundwater at? … And what is its quality? And can we guarantee that the amount of water available at these depths will continue?”
According
to Ammon News, Najjar said he does not disagree with the previous ministers on
the presence of groundwater.
But, he
asked, “what depths is the groundwater at? And what is its quality? Can we
guarantee that the amount of water available at these depths will continue?”
He
explained that groundwater exploration should not distract from the
National Water Carrier Project, stressing that desalination will reliably keep producing
the same quality and quantity of water.
Najjar
also signed an agreement to rehabilitate the Jordan River with Israeli
environmental minister Tamar Zandberg at the global COP27 climate conference in
November.
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