Amman, Dec. 14 (Petra) –Ministry of Water and Irrigation announced it detected 1,411 violations against main water lines last month, backfilled 13 illegal wells, and seized 4 illegal drilling rigs in several areas of the Kingdom.

In a statement issued Sunday, the ministry said it also removed 11 attacks on state-owned land in the Jordan Valley and 101 encroachments on the King Abdullah Canal during the same month.

Additionally, the ministry seized 9 illegal water tankers and addressed 9 encroachments on land in Khirbet es-Samra area, approximately 40 km northeast of Amman.

The ministry added that it also removed nine attacks on state-owned land in Khirbet es-Samra area.

Since launching the campaign to tighten control over water resources in 2013, the ministry has recorded 122,897 violations against water lines, backfilled 1,683 illegal wells, removed 2,886 encroachments on state-owned land in the Jordan Valley.

During this period, the ministry also recorded and removed 37,301 attacks on King Abdullah Canal, and 309 land encroachments in Khirbet es-Samra region and collected JD12.603 million in fees owed for water from illegal wells.

The ministry affirmed its continued commitment to the crackdown to stop all violations against Jordan's water networks and resources.

The ministry highlighted the government pays substantial financial costs to remove these encroachments, rectify the situation, and reduce violations against water resources, with the participation of all official agencies.

//Petra// AG