Drinking water is a right Ghor residents are fighting over

Right in water.. a priority in the world’s water-poor countries

Munira Al-Shatti research for Human Rights Documentaries

*Wasted water in Jordan exceeds 70%

*Jordan is on the verge of water catastrophe due to the lack of strategies

*Citizens lose their right in water by violating it

*Consumption average per capita is expected to decrease from 120 to 90 meters annually

*Experts: Jordan is the poorest country in water in the world

Jordan’s foreign policy observers blame officials for not including ‘water’ as a priority in Jordan’s foreign agenda, in a country considered among the poorest in water.

This negligence increases in winter as rain fall rates reduces and the options in front of the government are down to facing repeated retention each year that is reflected on average per capita of water.

The story starts from South Shuna

50-year-old Amena is waiting for Saturday of every week impatiently; the ‘high profile’ visitor, ‘water’, in order to pump life into her life’s arteries at her home in Kafrein area of South Shuna.

Amena, the mother of 8 children, eldest is 30, she starts on Friday, one day before water day, to prepare vessels and big plastic containers to save as much water as she can because it is available for 30 minutes only.

The water is not enough for Amena’s independent house that is located in front of an agricultural land of two acres. Her husband Ali is planting it with olive, fig, grenade, and palm trees; in order to use what he plans for domestic usage or for sell. These plants do not consume water as the family implements the rationing policy.

Amena, who runs the family, has to visit nearby wells on a daily basis to solve her water problem. She usually goes in weekdays along with her neighbor to a site of farms’ wells using plastic pipes to drag water over more than 300m to provide her house with life. This manual process takes a whole day of suffering.

Amena is one of Al-Kafrein area residents who suffer from lack of drinking water in the time the Ministry of Environment is expecting Jordan to become the poorest country in water in the world, especially that there is an international study that indicates that water providing resources shall decrease to 2000% in the upcoming years.

Ghor areas that the water problem is among the major issues at, is one of the hottest places in the kingdom which makes it among the highest areas in water consumption. This is due to the presence of domestic plantations and farms. Ghor area has always been described as the Jordanian vegetables and fruits basket. This means more water consumption.

‘This should not stop them from saving water’ says Yahya Khawalda, the manager at the South Shuna water directorate. He considered that the time his directorate provides water for Al-Kafrein area (12 hours a week) is sufficient.

Amina and Noura are Amena’s neighbors; they almost live the same way with regards to the water shortage and time of supplying. Amina thinks that the water problem is the most import one her family suffers from. Amina said that water shortage is a crisis we are suffering from, that is why we use irrigation water, this affect our children’s health negatively.

Nooura, in turn, runs her family’s issues, she suffers the same as well as following up on her 4 children who need more water to consume, not to mention the domestic usage. Noura added that she does what everyone else do and drink from the wells’ water assigned for irrigation, which is not fit for drinking. She mentioned that this happens as their financial situation does not allow them to buy water from tankers.

The directorate manager did not hide, while talking to us, the fact that the network is old, not to mention the violations from farmers against major lines passing through their lands. These violations forced the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to change some of its priorities and focus on moving these lines under its observers’ eyes in order to prevent such violations.

South Shuna water Directorate transfer water networks violators to the administrative ruler to take legal action against them. This action varies from paying a JD100 fine to imprisonment.

Water shortage problem is not limited to one area in Ghor as all its residents share this problem. Many families find King Abdullah Channel a refuge to them as it provides them with water to their houses. As for South Shuna residents, many of them have replaced the use of public water with wells’ water to irrigate their farms in that area. Der Alla residents have used the tankers to provide them with their need of water.

North Ghor, the pollution crisis

Going to North Ghor needs no worry, it is close to Shuna geographically, yet, it might be too difficult if we have used the public transportation as they both are the fertile plain of Jordan with 400square kilometers and 300-400 meter below sea level.

We opted to visit Abu Seedo area in particular as it has large residents number. Citizen Hussein Marzouq hosted us at his home where he and his family members depend on King Abdullah Channel to drink water without the need to wait for the public water to come as it does not.

Marzouq, who is one of the most active residents in defending their rights in service told us that over 300 families uses this water that has algae as it is originally for irrigation and for livestock.

Ministry of Water and Irrigation has announced in early 2010 the undertaking of King Abdullah Channel protection plan to save it from sediments resulting in from running rainfalls and what it carries.

Before the ministry, the Jordan Valley Authority started a movement to clean the Channel continuously in addition to directing the not fit for drinking water to the riverbeds towards Jordan River via a water passage down the Channel.

Water in the Channel was polluted in 2009 due to polluted water flowed over it from the Golan Heights that lasted for 5 days which led to waste about 750,000 cubic meters of water.

Jordan’s 15th Parliament has condemned Israel at the time and asked the cabinet to take more serious actions against Israel. The parliamentarian investigation committee has held Israel responsible for the pollution in 2009. The committee criticized officials at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and accused them of not fulfilling their works properly. The polluted water did not reach Zai water station and no water poisoning cases were registered.

Former MP Dr. Hashem Al-Shbool the head of the parliamentarian investigation committee has confirmed to Human Rights Documentaries that the Channel’s water is pollution free and it is fit for irrigation.

Hydrology expert, Dr. Elias Salameh, said that the pollution could still there as long as the Channel is being provided by polluted water. He also doubted the fact that some water resources are clean in the first place.

40-year-old Hussein Marzouq sees no cleanness in the dam water that its water has been polluted one and a half years ago. He said: even if the government assured us that the water is 100% not polluted, to us, it is still so.

Marzouq thinks that Ghor Water Directorate rounds are not doing what is meant by them in a good way as many water valves result in the waste of thousands of water liters, not to mention the old water network in Abu Seedo area.

Water waste leads to losing citizens’ rights

The percentage of the wasted water in South Shuna district exceeds 65%, according to the South Shuna Water Directorate Manager Yahya Khawalda, which is the highest in Balqa governorate.

We went to meet with Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar, but due to being busy with meetings, we were referred to Adnan Al-Zubi the spokesperson at the ministry. Al-Zubi talked about the obstacle facing the ministry in this regard, the intensive spread of housing and the increased population that add to the burden on the old networks. This, according to Zubi, stands behind the large number of wasted water that could reach, throughout the kingdom, 43%.

The waste in water has two types; the first is ‘administrative’ that could result from wrong meter readings and illegal use. The second is ’technical’ that is resulted from the old water network.

Mr. Zubi has listed the measures his ministry is undertaking to decrease the amount of wasted water like rehabilitating water networks, prolonging their service time, and installing new water networks, yet, these steps are all connected to an agreement with the German Reconstruction Bank in order to do these steps. This agreement is not signed yet.

One of the problems facing the government is draining the groundwater wells by the licensed and unlicensed farms. The quantity reached 275m cubic meters as the safe number extracted is 130m cubic meters as the same number goes for farmers, according to Zubi.

The ministry deals with the water from two points of view; the first is that governorates depend on groundwater. The second is taking the precautions to enhance water networks, minimize the wasted water, and rationalization of consumption as a precautionary measure to deal with any situation in the future.

Sharing the usage

Citizen Ghaleb Abu Ashraf is sharing his neighbor Marzouq with using the water for domestic purposes. Ghaled said that he has no option but to use the Channel’s water as his family is large in number and his children need water on a daily basis, not to mention that the financial situation does not allow him to buy water tanker.

Another citizen, Abdullah Abu Layla has another solution for his problem; he has offered his house for sale due to the big amounts he has to pay to buy water. Abu Layla said that he pays one third of his salary for water tankers knowing that his salary is only JD200.

We moved to North Ghor Water Directorate Manager office Rami Abu Rwaq, who talked to us about the problem of old water network. Rami said that Abu Seedo area has the water supply for 2.5 days per week, but the old network makes it impossible to reach all destinations regularly.

Abu Rwaq told AmmanNet that the wasted water in North Ghor is about 35%. He also added that the percentage of the delivered water to Abu Seedo takes into consideration the per capita share of water which varies from 120liter per day. The wasted water is the real problem that is lasted in the face of all officials.

Workers at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation try their best to see Abu Seedo area depending on Kareema water desalination plant in the upcoming period by a project to implement 6 inches pipe line in 4km long distance between both areas.

Fit for drinking water tankers are under the supervision of North Ghor health Directorate and Laboratories Directorates. This is what Abu Rwaq told us when we asked about the purity of water that many families rely on as a source of drinking.

Der Alla and the water shortage

If North Ghor residents could face the problem of polluted water they might receive, then their Der Alla counterparts are facing the problem of water shortage. Citizen Hasan Barahmah told us that most people have to buy water tankers on their own accounts despite the hard living conditions.

The money Mohammad Hasan has to pay, in addition to water bills, are added to the burden of the 5-member family household.

The old water network and the random extension of some others has become a problem to Der Alla residents, according to Ghazi Odwan, the director of Der Alla Directorate. Odwan added that this fact is costing us 57% of the water, which means striping residents from one of their most basic rights.

MOE: Expectations of decreased water consumptions

A study by the Ministry of Environment, that was issued mid December 2010, has revealed that it expects the decrease of per capita share of water annually from 120 to 90 cubic meters by the year 2025.

Jordanians consume 60% of water, which is equal to JD8-10 per month. In the time water costs the government 0.80 piaster, it sells it to citizens for 0.49 piaster.

Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najar has said that waterfall reached 11b cubic meter in the tear 2009, while the volume of water covers 64% of dams’ capacity which is 225m cubic meter. The waterfall of the water in dams this season is 65% as the rest evaporated.

The ministry has finished with executing a plan in 2008-2009 where it has processed extracted and processed water to provide the needed per capita share of water which is 113-115 liter per day.

The water authority extracts 20b cubic meter of water annually from Azraq reservoir, while farmers use 30m cubic meters that the minister looks at as a huge waste of water.

Precise water budget, according to Najar, to face the water shortage, but this budget is unaware of the governorates and districts. Najar drew the attention to the importance of planning in the way that goes along with food and water security.

Private sector and its needed role

Few civil society institutions are active in the field of water sector. After deep searches, we found the ‘Jordanian Association for Protecting Water’ that was founded in 2000 that makes studied and prepare water researches.

Ahmad Rosan, the President of this association is looking through his association for an effective role in reducing the percentage of wasted water that exceeds 48%. The association has already started to implement a number of strategies like educating school students, recycling the ablution water at mosques, and training farmers how to use water rationally.

Rosan added that one of the successful projects to reduce wasted water is the gray water project, which is the ablution water at Abu Obaida mosque in Der Alla, as this water is used after being processed to irrigate the mosque’s garden.

Desalination is Jordan’s only option

The ministry process 38m cubic meters of Zara Maeen wells amid struggles since 2002 to end the irregular extraction of groundwater.

Studies reiterate that waterfall percentage will decrease in 2020 to 20% due to the climate change as well as the 3.5 added degrees of the earth’s temperature. Adnan Zubi said that water extraction must be reduced from the groundwater reservoir, especially the irrigation water, as anything but this will lead to shortage in water.

Another solution by the ministry is to document tenders to desalinate water of salty wells to confront water shortage problem. Zubi stated: Jordan’s future in water lies on desalinating groundwater or salty water as in Kafrein area and Karama Dam, or desalinating the salty water of the sea and surface water.

Hydrology teacher at the university of Jordan Elias Salama thinks that groundwater in Jordan will not be enough for the future plans in light of expanded agricultural sector plans. So, we should find substitute water resources. Salama added that desalinating water in Aqaba is one of the options available despite its high cost.

Governmental experts call for water budgets for governorates and mechanisms to face the water shortage in the way that guarantees a better future for citizens in providing available drinking water.

United Nations Organization has considered getting pure water and sanitation services a basic right.

The UN decision has declared that having clean drinking water and sanitation services as basic human rights. A new decision of the UN has founded that 884 human beings suffer from fit for drinking water, while 2.6b people lack the sanitation services around the world.

If Ghor residents suffer from water shortage, here are the residents of the capital, Amman, facing almost the same thing as the water problem is ascending annually in the summer, yet, the high hot degrees do not match the coldness of officials at the water sector, that form in countries did not reach the limit of a crisis, a priority that cannot be protected.