AMMAN —
Jordan’s waterscarcity is pushing the Kingdom towards unpalatable decisions, as people invent
new, illegal ways to pump water.
اضافة اعلان
William Alajalin has worked
for 20 years as a water treatment specialist in the Southern
Jordan Valley,
a.k.a southern Ghor, and is a long-time environmental advocate in the area.
Alajalin believes that the
cost of water is the least of the district’s worries. “If we miss out on plan
B, getting the recovery water from the other side will be a big crisis,” he
said.
The “plan B” he cited is
Jordan’s well-publicized arrangement with Israel to buy 50 million cubic meters
of water for use in Jordan’s agricultural and industrial sectors. The deal
comes as an extension of the two countries’ existing water agreement, which was
established as part of the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
“The water agreement … included a clause for Jordan and Israel to cooperate to
find additional sources of water to supply Jordan with 50 million cubic meters
per year of drinking water,” said Yana Abu Taleb, the director of EcoPeace, an
ecologically and diplomatically focused organization with offices in Amman,
Ramallah, and Tel Aviv. “Ever since, Jordan has used that clause to purchase
additional quantities of water to help meet its demand.”
The EcoPeace director
rejected the notion that Jordan is completely dependent on Israel for water,
noting that the purchasing of additional water resources has been a
longstanding component in their complicated relationship. Jordan’s water
purchases occur between May and October, during the country’s driest months.
Israel is a global leader in desalination technology, and its close access to
the Mediterranean has allowed it to provide its excess water to Jordan.
Abu Taleb said the annual
purchase generally hits 10 to 20 million cubic meters, but this recent
agreement has doubled the amount. “The situation now is changing because Jordan
is in dire need,” said Abu Taleb. “And our water situation in the country has
become really terrible.”
“What we’re saying at
EcoPeace is that Israel has this relative advantage. They’re producing more
water than they need. But Jordan also has that comparative advantage of
producing energy: renewable energy from the sun. With Jordan’s vast desert
areas, the technology has become much cheaper. So, the idea is to build healthy
interdependencies so that no part would be depending on the other.”
The idea of a cooperative
energy exchange is just one of many solutions Abu Taleb and EcoPeace are
working towards. As of today, however, Jordan does not provide Israel with
solar energy for desalination.
“It’s a one-way deal this
time,” she said.
William Alajalin contended
that solar energy is affecting southern Ghor, but the area is facing issues
with regulation. He said that solar panels are often used as a way for private
properties with agricultural interests to cut costs and pump exorbitant and
illegal amounts of water.
“They (used to) pump water
using diesel fuel,” said Alajalin. “But now they are using solar energy, so
they are pumping 24/7. If I’m using diesel then it costs me money, then I shut
it down sometimes …. It’s the same in Wadi Al-Hasa near Tafileh (and Wadi Wala
near Karak),” he said. “So, these wadis, they supply water to the southern Ghor
community.”
Omar Salameh, the official
spokesman for the Ministry of Water, refuted Alajalin’s claim. “There are no
illegal uses (on) this line, and there is no solar in (southern Ghor),” he
said.
Citing Salameh’s concerns
about Jordan’s environmental future, Alajalin said that the Ministry of Water
has climate change prioritized.
Alajalin believes that
meeting basic infrastructural needs would provide superior long-term solutions.
Yet, the Kingdom’s few water resources that are available are undercut severely
in affected areas like southern Ghor.
Looming in the background of
Jordan’s massive water purchase is the enormous death toll in East Jerusalem,
the West Bank, and Gaza that recently made international headlines.
“We all understand that water
is a national security issue. No one wants to fully depend on another country
to meet such a security issue and a human need like water,” said EcoPeace’s Abu
Taleb.
Increasingly, water is
playing a dual role in the region as a topic of human rights and as a
bargaining chip in trade negotiations, according to Abu Taleb. She believes
that the future of peace, or at least basic cooperation in the region, will
depend on the prioritization of Palestine’s ability to manage and access water.
But the power imbalance with resource accessibility and infrastructure between
the three parties complicates water politics in the region.
“We can't fool ourselves and
say you can achieve regional cooperation without trying to bring the economic
levels of each of the sides at least to a balance,” she said.
As climate change disrupts
the region’s resources, compromise between Jordan, Israel, and Palestine is not
just a diplomatic priority, but also in the interest of the region’s long-term
ecological survivability, the EcoPeace director said.
“What has that thinking, of
decision-makers or politicians, that it’s all or nothing. What has that
approach done to us? Where are we now?”
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