AMMAN -- Demographic changes and migrations have created an imbalance between available water resources and demand, Minister of Water and Irrigation Thafer Alem said on Wednesday.
In his remarks at the opening session of a regional forum on local water governance entitled "Water is everybody's business," Alem said per capita water supply in 1943 totalled 3,400 million cubic metres annually, but following demographic changes as a result of regional wars and crises, an individual's share of water is now 146 cubic metres.
Water demand in the country currently stands at 1,250 million cubic metres (mcm), while available resources don't exceed 830mcm annually, he added.
Meanwhile, the drinking water deficit stands at 25 per cent and in irrigation 50 per cent, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Ziad Fariz said in his opening address.
Fariz, who deputised for His Majesty King Abdullah at the opening, said countries in the region could tackle their water problems by adopting joint policies and strategies and establishing regional projects.
Underlining the importance of the event, the minister said challenges facing the water sector are on the rise, particularly as competition for joint water resources between countries is leaning towards escalation and quotas instead of dialogue and finding practical solutions.
He added that using advanced irrigation techniques, increasing the volume of investments in the field of water treatment and improving water infrastructure were means of addressing these challenges.
For his part, Palestinian Agriculture Ministry Undersecretary Azzam Tabileh told participants that per capita water supply in the Palestinian territories stood at 100 cubic metres, the lowest in the world.
"This is all because the Israeli authorities control Palestinian water resources... Israel exploits over 80 per cent of underground water and prohibits Palestinians from using water from the Jordan River," Tabileh said.
Average water availability per 1,000 square kilometres world is 17,700 cubic metres in the region, while it is above 316,000 cubic metres in the rest of the world.
The Kingdom mainly relies on rainwater, but only 1.1 per cent of its total area receives an average of 400-600 millimetres of water.
Alem said the ministry will implement a pilot project in cooperation with donor countries to develop water-harvesting techniques, not only through dams but also by collecting rainwater from roofs of houses and buildings.
Several water projects worth $400 million have been implemented over the past two years, and the ministry drew up an investment programme for projects valued at more than $1 billion to be implemented over the next 15 years, Alem told the participants.
Held by the Euro-Med Participatory Water Resources Scenarios (EMPOWERS) Partnership and supported by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the event brought together more than 200 specialists representing decision-makers in the Arab world's water sector and representatives of donor organisations and water networks as well as regional and international NGOs and academia.
The EMPOWERS Partnership, cofunded by the European Union's MEDA Water Programme, is a regional project implemented in Jordan, Palestine and Egypt.
By Hana Namrouqa
© Jordan Times 2007
