Jordanians feel crunch of water crisis during eid

AMMAN — Jordanians are beginning to feel the crunch of this year’s water crisis, with many reporting “sudden” shortages, particularly during last week’s Eid Al-Adha holiday.اضافة اعلان

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation confirmed that the rainy season amounted to 50 percent of that of last year, affecting dam storage and lowering the per capita share of potable water.

Citizens from across the country who spoke to Jordan News reported shortages during the eid holiday, a time when people customarily welcome well-wishers at their homes, which caused them “embarrassment”.

"I had to buy more than 2 Meter Cubic of water last week as I suffered from water shortage and we needed water to cook and clean the house. You know, in eid, we welcome well-wishers at any time and we cannot just tell them not to come because we do not have water — this is shameful," Mohammad Nabulsi told Jordan News.

Nabulsi added that "now, besides just paying the water bills, I have to pay also for 1-2 cubic meters of water almost every week. I hope that the government finds us real solutions before winter comes as we know how difficult it is to spend winter without enough water."

Likewise, Sara Awamleh, another citizen, told Jordan News that "it is unfair to be paying water bills and also buying water almost every week. Water shortage is now a problem that I suffer from almost every week and it is really frustrating."

Awamleh added that "a long time ago, we had to suffer from water shortage maybe once a month or even less, but now it is different, this happens almost every week and I still do not know what the coming days will bring us. What will happen to us during winter? I do not want to think about it."

"Wherever we went in Eid, people were talking about water shortage in Jordan", Ahmad Al-Ajarmah, another citizen, told Jordan News.

A source from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation has previously told Jordan News that "the water situation in Jordan is critical."

The source added that "despite this, the ministry is still able to secure water sources for citizens, and that the ministry is still committed to providing citizens with water no matter what happens."

The source indicated that "the best solution is to complete the implementation of strategic projects, including the Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination & Conveyance Project (AAWDC)."

The AAWDC is a project being developed by the government the ministry to address water shortage in the Kingdom by constructing a desalination facility to draw water from the Gulf of Aqaba, produce drinking water and deliver it to the rest of the governorates.

The project aims to generate 250-300 million cubic meters (mcm) of desalinated water a year to be pumped to governorates across the Kingdom. Currently, demand for water exceeds supply by 400-500mcm a year, according to Ministry of Water report, and this is expected to worsen with population growth and resource depletion.