Committee on International Relations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515-0128
Committee on International Relations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515-0128
Water Resources in the Middle East and the importance of their
wise management
Prof. Dr. Elias Salameh
Although water is the most abundant among the natural resources, the Middle East (ME) is among the least blessed areas of the world with respect to the availabllity of water resources, Vast areas in the ME are even bedeviled by hyper aridity.
The history of man in the Middle East (ME) throughout the last three to four millennia has been determined and shaped largely by one major infra-structural element, namely water. This essential resource has great influence over human life when it is scarce. In the ME, this basic factor; water determined the lifestyles of people, their socio-economics and their conflicts.
Agriculture developed when the amount of rain was sufficient to support plant life. Irrigated agriculture was practiced along water courses such as the rivers: Nile, Euphrates, Tigris, Jordan, Yarmouk, Farie, Kilt, Auja, Haroud and Zerka, springs and desert oases.
In the past, availability of water and the technologies used for its exploitation not only determined lifestyles and socio-economics but also limited the population to the number, which the amount of food produced could support. In the last few decades, the population growth rate has been very high, not only due to natural growth but as a result, of the waves of refugees coming into the area.
The whole development in the Jordan River basin has, since the early fifties been concentrated in agriculture, mainly irrigated agriculture, which entails developing water resources to be used for irrigation. Irrigated agriculture has created job opportunities, through less expensive investments, for both the indigenous and the immigrating population.
The development of irrigated agriculture has different limiting factors such as availability of suitable land, water, laborer etc. In the JR basin the limiting factor proved to be the availability of irrigation water, which in addition to its scarcity was a subject for conflicting interests of the different riparian countries and use sectors; of agriculture, domestic and municipal uses.
Thus, human activities aggravated the natural scarcity of water resources in the area, with the following results:
Jordan, Palestine (West Bank and Gaza) and Israel are presently over utilizing their water resources by 20%, 15% and 7% respectively.
Generally, water levels are dropping, fossil water resources are being mined, salinisation of aquifers is taking place, salt water intrusions can hardly been avoided, irrigated soils are showing increasing salinisation, water quality degradation is on the increase and the amount of water supplied for domestic uses does not satisfy the hygiene and living standard demand.
As a conclusion, the area is experiencing escalating water crises and water shortages are already chronic.
The challenge facing the ME countries is to develop and introduce the necessary technologies to satisfy water and wastewater systems. The increase in population makes this challenge more difficult to achieve. The traditional policy of developing new water resources to satisfy needs, in the area, is almost exhausted. Now is the time to have new policies and changes in management strategies to fulfill this demand. Investment in leakage detection and maintenance, as an example seems to be a more economic way of increasing the efficiency of water supply. Leaking water from pipes and irrigation facilities represent a great loss because its cost is paid, but without any revenues. That water is collected, purified, pumped and distributed but it does not reach the consumer to pay for it.
Therefore, Jordan is implementing a rigorous rehabilitation program for its water supply system, with a cost of hundred millions of dollars.
Subsidizing irrigation water is still a prevalent policy in the area, where governments pay the capital cost of all the large irrigation projects. Although it is expected that farmers would irrigate their crops more efficiently if irrigation water prices would reflect the real cost. Pricing water at a lower cost has led to the inability to satisfy the demand.
Users of fossil water resources for irrigation pay only the pumping cost of the water, but not for exhausting the non-renewable water resources. Although these practices will certainly lead to the depletion of these resources and the loss of the future water and food security, yet, paying a certain cost might lead to saving and conserving at least part of the water and may lead to reconsiderations of economic feasibilities of certain projects.
Jordan is the first and only country in the world that has introduced prices on groundwater extracted for irrigation purposes. Although farmers pay, all the capital cost of drilling and the running cost of operation and maintenance, they have also to pay for the extracted amounts of water.
The introduction of prices for the groundwater extracted for agricultural uses (water extracted for industrial and municipal use is also paid for) was not an easy task, but the Ministry of Water and Irrigation insisted on that for the benefits of the present and future generation and the environment.
In the coming decade high cost projects, environmental hazards and tightened budgets will make large water projects unattractive and difficult to implement. Therefore, policy makers should change their strategies to lower the demand for water instead of increasing the supply, especially for irrigation.
The change to an efficient water economy is not an easy task, but such a change should start and continue. The technologies for that are available. Therefore, allocating more funds for improving the efficiency of water supply systems will make some expensive, environmentally unsound projects, unnecessary.
In Jordan, water saving devices are exempted of any tax. Water prices increase with increasing consumption. These policy measures aim at improving efficiency and savings in water use and consumption.
Desalination of seawater could alleviate the problems of coastal urban areas. Due to its relatively high cost, desalination could be justified for drinking purposes, which will also increase the amount of wastewater effluents and hence, the available water for irrigation.
Curtailing irrigated agriculture might increase domestic water supplies and alleviate the shortages, but such a measure would result in declining food production and foodstuff coverage, lower export revenues, higher hard currency expenditures for food imports, and higher unemployment with all its socio-economic ramifications in the different countries. Curtailing irrigated agriculture must therefore, be coupled with a transfer to industrialization, to guarantee jobs and revenues and to stabilize the social and political systems. Such restructuring, from an agrarian to an industrialized, tourism or trade-dependent economy, would require large investments of time and money, as well as great deal of skilled planning, training and technological expertise.
An increasing problem already causing tremendous concerns to the Middle East countries is water pollution, which is not only leading to water pollution but also to diminishing available resources by making these resources less suitable for their present uses, or of no use for any appropriate purpose.
Governments funding for environmental protection and for guaranteeing adequate water amounts for environmental services is often unavailable or has a very low priority on the agendas.
As a result of the different refugees waves from Palestine, Jordanian and Palestinian returnees from Gulf States as a result of the Gulf Wars, in addition to hundred thousands of Iraqis, the population of the country increased by many folds, each time within a few months. This migration put a great deal of pressure on the country’s already severe water supply situation, especially during the dry season.
The citizens of the major urban centers in Jordan, has been since the early eighties suffering from a catastrophic water shortage. Water is pumped only once or twice a week through the networks, where it is then collected and stored in roof tanks for use during the following week or so. Almost every one is living at the hygiene brink, where water use is concerned.
Israel is also suffering from diminishing water resources, although it obtains around 1/3 of its consumed water from the Jordan River and another 1/3 from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
For the last few years, Israel has been rationing water, mostly affecting the politically sensitive farming sector, which consumes around 75% of the country’s water supply.
It is not the water quantity, but its worsening quality that will bring us to our knees.
One thing is becoming clearer with every passing day; that the quality of our water resources is degrading rapidly, not only because of active pollution introduced by liquid or solid wastes, but also, and in increasing steps, by passive degradation due to salinization as a result of over-pumping and depletion of our groundwater resources base.
Water quality-deterioration problems are exacerbating and sharpening the severe water shortage of the area perceived under the prevailing economic, social, scientific and technological situations.
Regrettably, anti-pollution rules in some of the JR riparian countries are either unavailable or very vague. Even if they exist, they can be, easily circumvented. New rules have to be advanced to account for the prevention and repair of environmental damages.
In Jordan all towns of more than 20.000 inhabitants has been provided with wastewater collection and treatment systems. Each industry has to treat its effluents before discharging it to recipient wadis or water bodies Additional wastewater treatment plants and reuse schemes are still needed. In addition, some of the existing wastewater treatment plants require improvements to reach at a better effluent quality.
Misuse of water resources, water pollution, over-utilization or not respecting sustainability principles and intergeneration equity indicate unsound water resources management. In this context, the cause of development should never be used as a reason to sacrifice the water resources whether quantitatively or qualitatively. Because doing so will bring the whole issue of development into vicious circles, in which degradation of water resources as a vital element of the environment may in turn, negatively, impact the development itself.
Therefore, development should be compatible with the water resources issues, especially their pollution and sustainability in the concerned countries with scarce or poor water resources. Accordingly, the appropriate management of water resources should be basin-wide and, should incorporate the management of their environmental aspects, altogether within the framework of sound economics.
Therefore, any project generating degradation of water resources without the mechanisms and economic instruments to repair that degradation can be, regarded as a misallocation and misuse of water resources, even if the negative impacts will only affect other riparian countries.
This implies that any water development plan whether for urban, industrial or agricultural use should include an economic feasibility aiming at beneficial objectives to the society. But, if the basin–wide environmental aspects of water resources development, use, disposal of waste water and reuse are not fully included in that feasibility, the benefits to the society remain partial or even only apparent. In this case the whole development is, in reality, on the long run detrimental to the society and not beneficial.
During the last five decades, water-development projects within the drainage basin of the Dead Sea supported a major part of the increasing agricultural production necessary to meet the food demand of growing population in Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Israel. The projects also created jobs for hundred thousands of refugees moving from one place to another within the area and for migrants coming from other places in the world. Thus, the development of the water resources within the drainage basin of the Dead Sea was very essential for the survival of people and it will continue to be for future generations.
During the early and intermediate stages of development; the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s of the last century, almost no concerns were expressed about the impacts of the water resources development of the Dead Sea drainage basin on the ultimate base level of all the water resources of the surrounding areas, including the enclosed Dead Sea itself. This development deprived the Dead Sea of a major part of its incoming water, due to which its level continued to drop. The Dead Sea left behind its old shoreline and the nearby tourist facilities, hotels, spas, harbors far from the seawater.
One of the severest impacts of development and the lowering of the Dead Sea water level is the resulting seaward migration of the salt water/ freshwater interface. This caused billions of cubic meters of fresh groundwater to replace saltwater in the areas between former and present interface positions in order to reach at a new hydrodynamic equilibrium state (375 million m3/1m drop in sea level).
The unique configuration of the shallow interface between freshwater and Dead Seawater (density of 1.23g/cm3) is only about 1/10 of the equilibrium depth of the interface between freshwater and oceanic water. This makes the underground of the newly exposed shores, especially those composed of friable salty deposits highly vulnerable to flushing due to their instability and because of the fresh groundwater percolation caused by the retreat of the interface.
The freshwater flushing causes salt dissolution and fine particle removal, resulting in the creation of underground cavities, which in turn, caused ground-surface collapses in the form of sinkholes. These collapses endanger not, only people, but also infrastructure, hotels, spas, farms.
These facts have made us recognize that the Dead Sea and its drainage basin as one system requiring a “comprehensive system analysis” and an “integrated program for restoration”?
The Dead Sea is not a possession of one country in the Middle East. It is not only a possession of all the riparian countries of the Middle East, but also a world heritage site. Therefore, its use, benefits, problems and protection should bring nations together to make the best of its uniqueness. For that courage, wisdom and goodwill are required in order to avoid its destruction and to reach fruitful conservation schemes.
The Dead Sea disaster should worldwide serve to form an example of the results of piecemeal planning despite the holistic nature of natural systems.
Now, more than ever before, the Dead Sea level has to be restored to its former elevation of the 60’s of the last century. The Red Sea-Dead Sea conduit is becoming more vital for all the Dead Sea riparian countries. This project will not only, rescue the Dead Sea itself, restore the depleting groundwater resources of the surrounding areas, protect the coastal areas from collapses and bring back the humidity to the surrounding areas, but it will serve as a project of free cooperation for the benefits of all riparian states and the world community.
Jordan has exactly recognized its severe water situation and has accordingly developed its future water strategy with all the necessary programs, action plans and projects. After that, rigorous planning and investment programs have been developed and have already started to be implemented.
Although water is the most abundant among the natural resources, the Middle East is among the least blessed areas of the world with respect to the availability of water resources. Vast areas in the Middle East are, even bedeviled by hyper-aridity.
Shared water resources in the JR basin are to allocate to the riparian states in a fair way through negotiations in order not to allow for future conflicts.
The development plans of the water resources should be redesigned to fit in a scheme of basin-wide development, in order to avoid conflicts, enhance cooperation and joint management of resources, avoid and alleviate pollution and conserve resources in the context of intergeneration equity.
If water resources are to continue yielding adequate amounts of water with suitable qualities, government interventions in the form of regulation, environmental laws, and pollution control standards become pre-conditional. Therefore, any consideration of water resources pollution should involve a fair judgment about the level of pollution, which can reasonably be tolerated and accepted by the society without compensation. The other important issue in pollution control is the legal acceptance of the principle that an activity could be restricted by governmental actions, if it is presumed (not proven) to be harmful.
This implies that polluters must obtain a “permission to pollute”, otherwise they should not be allowed to cause any pollution. The permission should specify the quantity and concentration of the effluents allowed to discharge into the recipient water bodies. In such a case, effects on downstream areas have to be taken into consideration. This implies a basin-wide planning and utilization of water resources. Failing to meet the conditions laid down in the permission or to pollute without permission is, to deal with, as a criminal offence, even of states against each other.
The future of water supply, distribution and uses in the Middle East does not seem to be a continuation of the past. Demand is on the increase, new sources are hardly to find, aquifers are over-exploited and the cost of desalination or imports from water-rich countries is too expensive for the majority of the population.
Unless advanced concepts of water allocation and use such as socio-economic, environment, efficiency and intergeneration equity are introduced and applied in the near future in a wise, scheduled and comprehensive way, the area will certainly face one of its most severe socio-economic and intergeneration equity problems.
Droughts in the JR basin during the last decade resulted in the expressed wish to renegotiate the water sharing agreements. Hence, the basin–wide planning should incorporate drought potentials and risks in order to keep the peace treaties in a positive atmosphere by keeping the parties salient about any potential dispute.
Once the ongoing peace process fades out, the prognosis shows that even the peace accords and treaties have not solved and will not solve the water problems of the area, although, they might put an end to the claims and contra-claims of the different countries sharing the same source of water. If not deeply incorporated in a context of basin wide planning, sustainability and security water shortage problems in the area may calumniate and affect people’s health, social security and lives.
Water does not recognize political borders. It only deals with hydrologic units, which are trans-boundary systems. Therefore, sharing and cooperation among riparian countries are imperative. Lack of cooperation and sharing among riparian countries deprives, first of all, nature of the environmental services of water. An example on that is the story of the Dead Sea declining level caused by diversion of its feeding waters by the different riparian. The drop in the sea level led during the last three decades to migration of its saltwater/fresh water interface in a seawards direction, with an average annual loss of around 375 million cubic meter of fresh water from the Dead Sea surrounding areas to the Dead Sea and to its underground extensions beneath the shores.
The drop in the Dead Sea level resulted also in the creation of new coastal areas, which due to their geologic nature became unstable after the fresh water started percolating through them. Sinkholes and land collapses were the results, damaging roads, farms, houses etc.