Jordan’s water fight

A renewable resource in theory, water needs time to replenish, time it doesn't have in Jordan and so the country is finding itself facing a water shortage that is getting increasingly serious.

Currently Jordan is taking water from its underground reserves at twice the rate at which it can be replenished. The result is a land growing all the more arid and farmers fighting to survive.

In May farmers, ecologists and politicians got together to form the Highland Water Forum - an attempt to get all water users to change their habits. Agriculture in the Azraq region is on the front line.

Irrigation consumes two thirds of the country's water resources. The fight against waste, though, has only just begun. Drip irrigation systems have been put in place and farmers are being show simple measures to avoid any unnecessary waste. "With this drop-by-drop system of irrigation, we're saving twice as much water and the yield is better. Before we had a very inefficient system, which wasted a lot. This way is much better," notes Salameh Al Khoshmas as he wanders through his watermelon patch. Another measure he could take is to cover up the reservoir he has near his house, a large round pool. He enjoys looking at the rare resource but leaving the water directly under the sun’s rays means that much of it gets absorbed before it can ever be used to water the fields.

The underground wells in the Azraq region are expected to run out in 10 years if the current pumping continues.

According to official figures, Jordanians are supplied with around 90 litres of water each a day. In most developed countries, people consume four times that. Faced with the reality of a frightening water shortage, all sources are being scoured: salt water en route to the Dead Sea is turned into a drinkable life source for residents of Amman. Indeed, there are vast disparities between urban and rural water use.

To find out how Jordan supplements its supplies, we took a look at the desalination plant at Wadi Man. It provides a third of the capital Amman's residents with drinking water. To lower the salt content, it passes through seven different membranes, becoming fresher as it goes. A solution for today’s problems, but this water comes from the Wadi Mujib natural reserve, formerly a source for the Dead Sea. "Well, we have to sacrifice some of the Dead Sea so we can drink," notes the company’s technical advisor.

The way things stand, the Dead Sea looks set to disappear by 2050.

And while underground water may be running dry, petrol, it would appear is plentiful. Environmentalists say that extracting oil from the ground will only make the water shortage worse but companies from across the world are already sealing deals to try to gain control of the potentially oil-rich land.