Amman, June 24 (Petra) – Senate President Faisal Fayez on Wednesday stressed water security as an integral part of national security through optimizing the use of groundwater and surface water, large quantities of which are wasted each winter.
He spoke during a meeting in which he received a study by the Amman Group for Future Dialogues on water security sustainability in Jordan through diversification of water sources, desalination, and renewable Energy.
Fayez proposed a new project similar to the National Water Carrier to address future water scarcity resulting from population growth, whether through desalination or utilizing and treating groundwater to make it potable and offset a shortage in water allocated for agricultural purposes.
He also urged addressing water loss, cleaning dams, expanding water harvesting systems, and building earth dams.
The head of the Senate also stressed the need to address the costs of rising energy prices through expanding renewable energy projects (solar and wind), given their impact on water prices and the cost of extracting water from underground aquifers or desalinating seawater.
For his part, head of the group, Bilal Al-Tal, said Jordan faces a complex water crisis involving population pressures, climate change, and increased water loss, in addition to regional crises that have affected food and economic security.
He said Jordan is one of the wold's most water-scarce countries, necessitating an urgent shift from planning to the actual implementation of sustainable projects and solutions.
The study concluded that water desalination is a vital solution to address water scarcity in Jordan, whether through the National Water Carrier project to desalinate Red Sea water and transport it to Amman and the governorates, or through the desalination of brackish and deep wells, and utilizing mobile desalination technologies.
It stressed the need to expand the use of renewable energy in water projects and reduce pumping and desalination costs, leveraging Jordan's significant solar energy potential.
It also stressed a focus on reducing water loss due to leaks and tampering with networks, rehabilitating infrastructure, deploying smart meters, and curbing water theft, in addition to expanding rainwater harvesting, constructing dams, and recharging groundwater basins.
The study also highlighted the treatment of wastewater for agricultural use, where the agricultural sector consumes the largest share of water.
//Petra//SS
