Water security reshaping Arab region, experts say at Amman forum

Dec 08,2016 

AMMAN — Water security is reshaping the architecture of the Arab region, experts in water and crisis management said on Thursday, hailing cross-border cooperation as the way forward to tackling the increasing dearth of water.

The experts and politicians convening in Amman said water security is central to achieving sustainable development and economic growth, warning that its scarcity affects national security when the economy regresses, causing hunger, forced migration, armed conflicts and wars.

During the National and Water Security Forum in Amman, local and international experts in water, security and crisis management, academia, and sustainable development discussed water security as a major challenge to sustainable development on the national and international levels.

Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Investment Affairs Jawad Anani highlighted that denying the enemy access to water sources is a key war strategy, underscoring that water has always been a very important component of the region’s culture, not because of its abundance but because of its dearth.

Noting that many countries have engaged in war because of water, Anani said water exchange across borders is profitable to countries, citing the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project (Red-Dead) as one example of cooperation on water.

He raised an exclamatory question on whether cross-border cooperation on water can lead to an enhanced water trade.

“Are we going to see a new world where water becomes an internationally tradable commodity just as oil?” Anani wondered.

The official and economy expert suggested that water exchange can actually help countries in optimising and rationalising the use of the precious resource, highlighting the importance of revisiting the models of domestic usage of water.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Hussein Azzam, who is in charge of training at the National Centre for Security and Crisis Management, said protecting water resources and systems is vital to sustaining national security.

He underscored that water scarcity in Jordan and the region threatens development programmes, and can cause crises.

“Water security and water scarcity cannot be addressed without reaching efficient cross-border communication and understanding,” Azzam noted.

During the one-day event, organised by the Munich-based WeatherTec Services, participants also tackled the current water situation in Jordan and the new technologies to generate more freshwater.

Ministry of Water and Irrigation Assistant Secretary General Ali Suboh said there are no more cheap water solutions for the country to explore, noting that the ministry supports WeatherTec in its ongoing project if it can really increase rainfall in Jordan.

Suboh underlined that the country’s long-term solution for its water shortage that is aggravated with hosting 1.4 million Syrians is the desalination of water.

“Desalination is the only way forward for us in order to generate water for current uses as well as for the future generations,” he noted.

Jordan is exploring different technologies to increase its precipitation, including the Thai cloud seeding and WeatherTec’s ionisation technology.

On the other hand, the government is pressing ahead with its plan to implement the 1.1 billion dollar Red-Dead project, under which 300 million cubic metres (mcm) of water will be pumped each year from the Red Sea.

A total of 85-100mcm of water will be desalinated every year, while the seawater will be pumped out from an intake located in the north of the Gulf of Aqaba.

In addition, a conveyor will be extended to transfer desalinated water as well as a pipeline to dump the brine into the Dead Sea to stop its constant decline, estimated at one metre every year.

© Jordan Times 2016