Water Demand Management can help Jordan to overcome its water shortage crisis

Water Demand Management can help Jordan to overcome its water shortage crisis


Author：Nadhir Al-Ansari

Jordan is considered as one of the poorest countries in its water resources. About 93% of the total precipitation which amounts to 8.2 billion m3 is lost by evaporation. The country is estimated below the poverty line by 682 million m3/year and developed surface water potential was approximately 295 million m3(MCM) in 2007, which is projected to reach 365 MCM by 2022. Sur-face water resources form about 37% and Ground water accounts for about 54% of water supply in Jordan.

Water requirements in Jordan till 2025 according to three scenarios suggest that: if we assume that water consumption is at constant rates up to 2025. Then the rates of consumption considered are 50.4, 9.5 and 180 cubic meters for municipal, industrial and agricultural sectors respectively. Population growth rate is assumed to be 3.6% for the period 1997-2000 and it was assumed to decrease by 0.1% every 5 years. The results showed that the population will reach 10.774 million in 2025. Accordingly, water demand will be 2584 MCM and that means the water deficit will reach 1187 MCM in 2025.

In the second scenario, the population growth rate was taken as in the first scenario and the water allocation was considered 200l/day/capita according to WHO recommendations. The industrial water consumption was considered to match medium income per capita. In this scenario, municipal water consumption increased to reach 786.5 MCM and the industrial water consumption to be 172.4 MCM in 2015. The water requirements of the agricultural sector were considered to be the remainder of the available water. This was assumed on the condition that up to date water irrigation techniques are used in such a way to improve the productivity of the land.

Water consumption for the period 1984 to 1997 was used in the third scenario. In addition the expected water resources defined by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation were used in this scenario. The results showed that municipal water consumption reached 597.4 MCM in 2025 which indicates that there was 4.1% increase annually. The allocation per capita per day in 2025 is 152 l/day/capita. As far as the industrial and agricultural sectors are concerned, the consumption increase to 170.5 and 1228 MCM in 2025 indicating an increase of 5.8 and 2.2% annually respectively.

To overcome the water deficit between supply and demand, it is believed that water demand management program should be adopted. Such a program will help reduce water use and water loss through the distribution supply net, pre-vent pollution and waste water disposal in nature, make efficient use of available water resources, plan for future new water resources prudently, and finally impose a real cost for water supply that would be acceptable. Water demand management program will redefine water allocation priorities (such as reducing agricultural water use), and help develop new technologies for use of non-conventional water resources (example waste-water recycling). To protect public health and the environment, water quality degradation should be reversed. In addition to the above, public awareness program is to be put in action. It is noteworthy to mention that public awareness program is to be adopted which will make people aware of the seriousness of the problem so that they can contribute to solving it by changing the water consumption pattern.

Source:
Water Demand Management in Jordan; Engineering; DOI: 10.4236/eng.2014.61004