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Jordan: Water Scarcity: Difference between revisions
→Water resources in the Middle East
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*Climate change will have a dramatic impact on water supplies in future, although there is huge uncertainty as to the effects it will have on individual regions, making it extremely difficult to plan adequately for the future | *Climate change will have a dramatic impact on water supplies in future, although there is huge uncertainty as to the effects it will have on individual regions, making it extremely difficult to plan adequately for the future | ||
==Water | ==Water in the Middle East== | ||
The climate in the Middle East is classified as ‘arid’, with low precipitation and high evapotranspiration, i.e. a large swathe of the region receives less than 200mm of rainfall per annum and potential evaporation of surface water of over 2000mm. <ref name="Alqadi"> Alqadi, Khaled A., and Lalit Kumar. "Water issues in the Kingdom of Jordan: A brief review with reasons for declining quality." Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment 9.3&4 (2011): 1019-1023.</ref> | |||
It has very few rivers: the Euphrates and the Tigris are very important sources of water for the whole region, while the shrinking levels of the Jordan and its tributaries are of use to the west of the region only. | |||
Relative decline of water supplies due to more frequent droughts and the burgeoning population has increased political conflict. It is expected that the population of countries in the Arabian Peninsula, for example, will double over the next 50 years to 600 million. Some of these countries are already extracting over 75% of their total renewable water resources. <ref name="Medina" /> Israel has about 300 m3 of fresh water per person per year and Kuwait a mere 1 m3, while in the Gaza Strip in Palestine it is estimated that 90% of the local water supply is undrinkable as a result of pollution and increased salinity. <ref name="Alqadi" /> This problem is aggravated by the continuing historical tensions between the Arabs and the Israelis. Tensions over water even played a part in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967 due to a dispute over the diversion of the River Jordan and the sabotage of water pipelines<ref name="Black"> Black, Emily. "Water and society in Jordan and Israel today: an introductory overview." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 368.1931 (2010): 5111-5116.</ref>; the post-war position of Israeli provided it with control over the headwaters of the Jordan and the aquifers of the West Bank. <ref name="Alqadi" /> But despite such conflicts, water can also serve as a point of agreement; the Israeli-Palestine water commission, for example, is the only joint committee created by the Oslo Agreement that still exists today, while Israel and Jordan have worked together for years on managing the Sea of Galilee located in Israel but near the Yarmuk River, which demarcates the border between the two countries.<ref name="Black" /> | |||
==Water access in Jordan== | ==Water access in Jordan== | ||