“We call on Jordanians to show understanding.” That was the
plea by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation calling on citizens to survive a
summer during which their thirst would not be quenched. Citizens will have to
suffer the consequences of water mismanagement, which is, in turn, the result
of failure in the implementation of dozens of strategies and alternative plans.
Add to that the water theft the sector has suffered (88,000 cases of public
water theft have been reported since 2013), let alone the illegally dug wells
and inefficient legislation.
اضافة اعلان
Poor Jordanians! They must always bear the burden and pay
the price for officials’ inefficiency, insincerity, or inability to resolve
situations and to overcome the challenges. So, citizens have to believe everything
they are told about plans and strategies that have been mere ink on paper, or
an anesthetic to buy time.
Why is it the citizens who have to survive a summer with a
poor water supply? Where is the water minister who threatens to deny any news
report on the issue, even before he sees the story? What were his predecessors
doing? Where are the millions that have been paid in salaries to these
ministers, their travels, plans, and advisers, funds originally paid by
taxpayer?
Why should the average citizen be the victim of the
mismanagement of different institutions? Take the energy file, for example. We
are experiencing unmatched frustration, listening to official remarks that take
us above the clouds, while in reality, the situation is getting worse and worse
every day. The same applies to several dreamlike projects that are depleting
the Treasury, and the result is the same: only a mirage in the desert.
Why is it citizens who have to pay the price of every
mistake, at a time of high unemployment rates, poverty, economic hardship, and
a pandemic that has further complicated their lives after the macroeconomic
situation deteriorated? There has not been a single official held accountable,
even for a small part of this situation.
I remember when the Ministry of Water announced, in 2015,
that it had made vigorous efforts to reduce water loss, and identified three
stages by the end of which the average water loss would be taken down to 26
percent in all water areas (currently estimated at 46 percent). There was a plan
for a subsequent evaluation of all projects related to water loss, especially
in light the attacks on water networks and lines. These projects included the
rehabilitation of old water networks, laying new networks and establishing
pumping stations. They also involved purchasing lab equipment, pressure
management, leak detection, and monitoring systems, in addition to the
replacement of damaged meters.
All of this did not yield any tangible improvement in
efforts to reduce water loss. What was the solution? The government resorted to
a clear master plan to reduce waste! This was announced at the time.
The water sector strategy for the years 2016–2025 also
entailed a water waste program, designed in light of the huge challenges facing
the water sector, foremost of which is water loss, or, as termed
internationally, “non-revenue water”.
The Ministry of Water is also drafting a long-term action
plan that covers the period ending in 2040, based on scientific data and
careful monitoring to “come up with a clear vision and goals for the
advancement of the water sector.” The ministry says that it is keeping an eye
on the various challenges facing the water sector in the second-poorest water
country in the world, within a specific framework, whose components are part of
an integrated water management scheme, which covers the
Disi Water Conveyance Project.
Moreover, no laws or bylaws have been amended over the past
years, a fact which delays the process of regulating irrigated agriculture. Add
to that geopolitical factors that have hindered the efficient enforcement of
relevant laws and regulations in a country that takes 60 percent of its water
needs from 12 aquifers.
These hope-loaded strategies are what we hear from the water
ministry, and after that, it asks us to show understanding of its failure and
fake achievements and endure a summer where we will struggle to find enough
water to bathe, drink, or water plants. For me personally, I do not plan to
show understanding of what the water ministry has been talking about.
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