Jordan pins water hopes on controversial pipeline project

Jordan, one of the world's most water scarce states, is facing a "perfect storm of pressures" including chronic scarcity, over-use, waste, and a massive increase in demand caused by refugee arrivals, according to areportpublished this month by the NGO Mercy Corps.

To add to the water stress, the country is currently undergoing itsdriest rainy season in decades.

One proposed solution is due to be implemented by mid-2018 following Jordan's signing of a controversial water sharing agreement with Israel and the Palestinian authorities in December 2013 after decades of discussions.

The agreement paves the way for the long-discussed Red Sea Dead Sea Water Conveyer (RSDSWC) project, though in a much reduced form. It includes the construction of a desalination plant at the Jordanian port of Aqaba, which will desalinate 800-1,000 million cubic metres (mcm) per year shared by participating countries, and the pumping of brine to revive the Dead Sea via a 180km pipeline/canal.

According to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Jordan will have chosen the contractor by April 2015, construction will begin at the end of 2015, and implementation will last almost 2.5 years.

"With this, we will have solved Jordan's problems at least for the next 30 years," said Nabeel Zoubi, programme manager for the Red-Dead Sea programme at the ministry.

The plant is expected to produce at least 80 mcm every year, according to Zoubi. "Israel will buy approximately 50 mcm from Jordan at a cost of US$0.42 per cubic metre and the rest - approximately 30-40 mcm - will go to Jordan's governorate of Aqaba," Zoubi added.

According to the agreement, Jordan can purchase around 50 mcm of water from Israel (from the Sea of Galilee) to provide water to Amman and the northern part of Jordan.

"There is no other way Jordan can address water scarcity given the increasing population and challenges brought by climate change," said Zoubi.

Cost concerns

But some experts have voiced concerns about the RSDSWC project due to the cost, estimated at US$4 billion, and the potential environmental risks of delivering brine to the Dead Sea.

"It is a suitable solution, but it is very challenging due to the current political context, regional unrest, geographical location and its high cost," environmentalist and climate change expert Amal Dababseh told IRIN. "The project will be located along the Rift Valley, which is quite seismically active. That will make any donor think twice before they fund a project like this."

The project has received moral and technical support from the World Bank, which published afeasibility study, but so far no funding has been earmarked for the project, and it is still not clear who will pay for the infrastructure.

Jordan says it is trying to secure funding for the pipeline phase of the project from "neighbouring and friendly" countries: "Saving the Dead Sea is an international responsibility and not only Jordan's," Zoubi told IRIN.

The World Bank office in Jordan told IRIN that "Jordan is eligible for the World Bank's loans and financial instruments but has not requested any financial assistance from them for the Red-Dead [project]."

Environmental impact

As well as providing a source of fresh water in a water-scarce country, the pipeline project aims to revive the Dead Sea, which has been receding at a rate of more than one metre a year.

"There is a unique ecosystem in the Dead Sea area - plants, birds, insects, micro-organisms that must be protected. Also, mineral extraction [for beauty products] is very important for Jordan and must be maintained," said Dababseh.

But water expert and international consultant Valerie York argues that "the amounts of water/brine channelled into the Dead Sea would be a fraction of the amount required to compensate for annual decline in Dead Sea levels."

"Moreover," she says, "such a Red Sea Dead Sea link could lead to environmental disaster."

Citing the World Bank's feasibility study, York told IRIN in a telephone interview that the mixing of the two seas' waters (the introduction of brine into the Dead Sea) "could produce a chemical reaction that would possibly create gypsum and algae".

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