Another dry season / Israeli Water Authority: Winter rains 80-85% below annual average
Ha’aretz, May 11, 2009
By Zafrir Rinat
This past winter was rainier than the previous one, but it was still considered a dry winter: Precipitation in various parts of the country reached only 65 percent to 90 percent of the multiyear average, according to figures released last week by the Israel Hydrological Service.
Over Lake Kinneret, rainfall was 80 percent to 85 percent of the multiyear average, according to the hydrological service. This is the fifth consecutive year that rain in this region has been less than average, and this is one of the reasons that the level of the lake is more than a meter lower than it was a year ago, and that only half the average annual amount of water has flowed into it. Calculations show that at the end of the summer, the level of the Kinneret will be only 67 centimeters above the lowest permissible level before pumping must stop.
Small amounts of rain fell last month in most of the country. In a single event, on Mount Hermon, 120 millimeters of rainfall were recorded within two days. This swelled the Dan and Snir streams, which receive their water from Mount Hermon, but it did not significantly change the quantity of water flowing into the Kinneret.
The Water Authority, to which the hydrological service belongs, is closely watching additional sources of water: the mountain and the coastal aquifers. A decine in the rain that fell in these areas was seen, from north to south. Above the northern mountain aquifer, 83 percent of the multiyear average of rain fell, while only 66 percent of the average amount fell over the southern aquifer.
The Water Authority's main concern is that the need to pump less water from the Kinneret will mean increased pumping from the aquifers, which could then run the risk of increased salination as their level of fresh water declines.
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Red-Dead project to supply Aqaba plant with 100mcm of water annually
Jordan Tiimes, May 26, 2009
By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN- The Red-Dead Water Conveyance Project will supply the country's first nuclear energy plant in Aqaba with 100 million cubic metres (mcm) of desalinated water annually by the year 2018, officials said Monday.
Also yesterday, the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) announced plans for establishing four nuclear plants in the southern region; two will be constructed in Aqaba by the year 2025 while the other two will be established near Karak and the southern shores of the Dead Sea.
Under an agreement signed yesterday between the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the JAEC, the ministry will supply the country's four nuclear plants, to be established over a span of 30-35 years, with 400mcm of desalinated water generated from the Red-Dead project.
Meanwhile, the nuclear plants will provide the Red-Dead project with almost 750 megawatts of electrical energy for the water pumping and desalination processes.
Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud, who signed the agreement with JAEC Chairman Khaled Toukan, said nuclear plants consume large amounts of water, thus the commission will be "the sector's main customer".
"Around 40 per cent of the desalination plants that will be established in Jordan will use their energy from the nuclear plants, which will be our main consumers… this will encourage us to carry out the first phase of the Red-Dead project faster…" Abu Saud told reporters at the signing ceremony yesterday.
The Red-Dead canal project is part of international efforts to generate much- needed water and save the Dead Sea, which has been shrinking at the rate of one metre per year, largely due to the diversion of water from the Jordan River for agricultural and industrial use.
Abu Saud noted that the brine generated from the desalination plants will be channeled into the Dead Sea to raise its continuously dropping levels.
During the past 20 years alone, it has plunged more than 30 metres, with experts warning that it could dry up within the next 50 years.
Meanwhile, Toukan said water and energy issues are correlated for Jordan, noting that supplying the nuclear energy plants with water is fundamental.
"Economically feasible energy for the water sector is also important… the agreement integrates the nuclear energy plants, the water desalination plants as well as the Red-Dead project," Toukan said yesterday.
He noted that under the agreement, the first phase of the Red-Dead project will supply the first nuclear plant in Wadi Wahed in Aqaba that is projected to generate 1,000 megawatts, with 100mcm of desalinated water annually.
"It is fundamental to have water for cooling down the nuclear energy plant, which will not be established on the shores of the Red Sea or directly use seawater," the JAEC chairman said.
He explained that the plant will be established 11-12 kilometres to the east of the southern shores of Aqaba behind the Naval Station in a bid to protect the environment, the limited shoreline and the coral reefs in the gulf.
Toukan said in 2025, the commission will establish a second nuclear energy plant in Aqaba, which will be supplied with 200mcm of water from the Red-Dead project, adding that after 2025, when the Red-Dead project's conveyor is expected to be in place, another two nuclear plants will be established.
"With the existence of the conveyor we can establish the plants away from Aqaba… thus the plants will be supplied with water while at the same time form the main energy supplier to the project," he added
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Dr. Attili: Reforming the Palestinian water sector and establishing the National Water Company is close
AL-Quds, May 5th, 2009
Ramallah - Athens - The Head of the PWA Dr. Attili clarified that the authority is advancing the issue of reforming the water sector which will improve the water management sector in Palestine. Dr. Attili also said that the PWA has finished preparing a short term plan for reform which will need to be discussed and approved by the ministers’ cabinet.
Dr. Attili said that the meeting in Athens was to follow up on the Red Dead Canal and to discuss issues related to other funding, where the Greek government allocated (appropriated) 800 thousand Euros for the reform in the PWA. At the same time, he clarified that the West Bank Water Department WBWD had suffered technical and management problems having to do with the wells and its pumping operations, forcing the PWA to take severe decisions in this regard. One of the most important actions to be taken is to transfer the water unit employees from the WBWD to the PWA in order to end its fellowship to the Israeli Civil Administration, something which was agreed upon with the Israeli side according to the bilateral agreements.
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Israel still seeks Red-Dead cooperation despite Jordanian plan to go it alone
Ha’aretz, May 20, 2009
Following a British newspaper report that Jordan would construct a Red Sea-Dead Sea canal without Israeli cooperation, the Water Authority has expressed its hope that Israel can still cooperate with the Hashemite kingdom on the project, thereby replenishing the world's largest hypersaline lake.
Monday's report in The Times stated Jordan intends to develop the canal without Israel, due to dissatisfaction over the state of planning with Israeli and Palestinian developers.
Water Authority officials know such a project would be more beneficial to Jordan, which urgently needs to increase its potable water supply.
But, the project will have trouble finding external funding without Israeli participation, they said.
The canal will draw water from the Gulf of Aqaba, and will run through Jordanian territory to purification facilities. Brine passing through those facilities will be pumped into the Dead Sea, which is currently sinking by about one meter a year. The World Bank began studying the project's potential efficacy last year.
"Israel, Syria and Jordan currently use all the water of the Yarmouk River and Lake Kinneret, the natural sources of the Dead Sea," said Michael Zaida, head of the authority's strategic planning department.
"That's why we can't reach a situation of pumping natural water into the Dead Sea, as some environmental groups claim. Maybe in some future diplomatic arrangement it will be different, but the alternative we're supporting is the Red-Dead project."
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Region's first grey water recycling plant launched
Jordan Times, May 29, 2009
By Hana Namrouqa
DEAD SEA - The region's first recycling plant for grey water was launched on Thursday in a bid to conserve the precious resource in a country categorized as one of the four water-poorest nations in the world.
The Grey-water Recycling Plant is a pilot project designed to reduce water demand, while at the same time safely dispose of wastewater, Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud said at the launch ceremony.
Also yesterday, Water Ministry Secretary General Maysoun Zu'bi announced government plans for applying grey-water recycling systems in housing units built under a Royal initiative for impoverished people across the country.
Abu Saud said population growth and the expanding industrial and real estate sector place a huge burden on the limited resource, noting that grey-water recycling in domestic and commercial facilities and industries is listed under the 2008-2022 Water for Life Strategy.
"It [recycling] reduces the final wastewater flow as well as the burden on existing infrastructure. We have to include such technologies as an obligatory part of the building codes," Abu Saud said.
The plant, funded by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), is located in the Dead Sea Spa Hotel and can recycle 15,000 liters of water daily collected from showers and bathroom sinks.
"The recycled water will be reused for flushing [toilets] and irrigation. Thus, up to 60 per cent of water consumed for toilet flushing in the hotel can be saved, which will reflect positively on the amount and costs of used freshwater," GTZ Program Manager Dieter Rothenberger said yesterday.
Highlighting that grey water, which constitutes 60 per cent of domestic wastewater in Jordan, is a big environmental and health concern, Rothenberger underscored the importance of introducing environmental technology to Jordan and convincing people that applying them pays back.
Meanwhile, Michael Hasenbeck, business unit manager at Hansgrohe/Pontos, a German company that built the plant, told The Jordan Times that installing units for recycling grey water approximately costs 100,000 euros. He noted that the water is treated biologically without adding chemicals.
Grey water, also called "sullage", is non-industrial wastewater generated from domestic processes such as dishwashing, laundry and bathing. Concerns over dwindling groundwater reserves and overloaded or costly sewage treatment plants have generated interest in the reuse or recycling of grey water, both domestically and for large-scale irrigation, according to web sources.
However, concerns over potential health and environmental risks mean that many municipalities require intensive treatment systems for legal reuse of grey water, making it expensive for both commercial and residential use.
German Ambassador in Amman Joachim Heidorn said the project is an example of public-private partnership, noting that it introduces modern German technology for saving and recycling water applied in many European countries.
"It targets specially high-volume consumers in urban areas such as hotels, villas, high-rise building and new buildings, where the infrastructure allows to have an internal grey-water recycling unit," Heidorn said.
He added that Jordan is one of the poorest countries in terms of water availability "but one of the richest in tourism", noting that applying technologies for preserving water resources are feasible both economically and environmentally.
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Dr. Attili confirms the presence of water contamination in Dheisheh Refugee camp
AL-Quds, May 16, 2009
Ramallah – Wafa - The Head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Dr. Shadad Attili, confirmed that the Dheisheh Refugee (Bethlehem) camp is suffering from water pollution and that the sewage network needs rehabilitation. This rehabilitation needs funding in cooperation with the Bethlehem Water, Sanitation and Sewerage Authority WSSA.
Dr. Attili confirmed that the engineers from the PWA communicated with the WSSA and after conducting water sampling and testing to locate the contamination sources and locations, said that there is no master plan for the sewage network inside the camp and that water pipes intersect with sewage pipes because of the very narrow roads in the camp.
Dr. Atilli reinforced the need to stop illegal connections and to punish those who are responsible for such connections. Dr. Simon Araj, head of the WSSA, confirmed that there are many illegal connections, in addition to the fact that the sewage network itself leaks into the water network, and as a result, the water network has deteriorated. AL-Araj mentioned that in order to solve this problem, they will need to replace 300 m of contaminated pipes and to look for funding in order to make a new and better designed network.
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Israeli, PA officials make waves about water resources
Jerusalem Post, May 30, 2009
Ehud Zion Waldoks
Representatives of the Israeli and Palestinian water authorities expressed their desire last week to work to reach acceptable joint water allocations, but at the same time could not come to agreement on the basic facts.
Dr. Yossi Dreyzin, consultant to the Israeli Water Authority, and Fuaad Bateh, legal adviser to the Palestinian Water Authority, were both responding to a World Bank report during a session at the Jerusalem Environment & Nature Conference 2009 on Wednesday.
The report was released at the end of April. The session was organized by regional NGO Friends of the Earth Middle East, which has been very active in joint water issues for 15 years.
A complicated and time consuming approval process by the Joint Water Committee (JWC) and the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria has severely hindered the proper growth of the Palestinian water economy, according to the World Bank report.
The JWC needs to be revamped to balance it out, as Israel has far more influence there than the Palestinians, according to the report. As a result, JWC approvals and subsequent civil administration approvals have been held up for long lengths of time. One hundred forty three Palestinian Authority water projects are pending approval, including basic ones like fixing leaks, the report says.
The Palestinian Water Authority also needs a serious reconfiguration and to "get back on track" handling infrastructure projects, the report says. World Bank representatives presented a summary of the document via video-conference from Washington at the session.
With various numbers flying back and forth between Dreyzin, Bateh and the World Bank, it became clear that no one is in agreement as to the basic facts. How much water is available, who is taking how much and where they should get it from were all topic of dispute.
One topic of debate illustrated the different policy priorities between Israel and the PA. Dreyzin described and advocated the Israeli plan to offer the PA land in Hadera to build a 50 million cubic meter desalination plant that would then transport water to the West Bank. He presented it as the best option for allocating additional water to the PA. Before becoming a consultant, Dreyzin headed the Israeli Water Authority's planning branch for many years.
However, Bateh said it was unacceptable for a major Palestinian water source to be under the control of Israel. "If electricity and gas can be cut off, then so can water," he said.
Moreover, it made little practical sense to transport water across the width of Israel when the PA sits atop the mountain aquifer, he contended. Instead, he demanded a "fair allocation" for the Palestinians from the mountain aquifer. The interim framework drafted as part of the Oslo agreements was no longer sufficient for the desperate needs of the Palestinians today, he said.
At the same time, Bateh was very clear about the potential for negotiation and agreement. He noted that rather than being a fixed pie, water was a potentially expandable resource as desalination plants produced more water and shifted the availability away from just natural sources.
Dreyzin also seemed to acknowledge the need to figure out how to divvy up the shared water resources.
The frequency of JWC meetings has dropped very far down in recent years, averaging about once a year. The World Bank report was compiled, at the request of the PA, to provide insight into the problems and to help the Palestinian water economy get back on track.
The Jerusalem Environment & Nature Conference 2009 was sponsored by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and the Jerusalem Municipality.
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Kingdom will not face water crisis this summer
Jordan Times, May 24, 2009
By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN- The Kingdom will not face a water crisis this summer as the dams hold sufficient amounts of water that will meet demand during the coming months, a water sector official said Saturday.
As the Kingdom's major dams hold almost half of their total capacity of 215.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of water, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation will be able to provide consumers and farmers with their water needs, Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) Secretary General Moussa Jamaini said yesterday.
"The ministry is capable of providing water to the public, whether for drinking, agriculture or other purposes, as well as meeting the expected increase in demand with the return of expatriates in summer…," the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Jamaini as saying.
Earlier this year, the ministry announced that farmers in the Northern Ghor will receive 45 per cent of their total irrigation needs, while those in the Central Ghor will receive 55 per cent.
The water distribution percentages were announced after the Water Ministry rescinded a decision banning the cultivation of summer crops in March, when storage levels in the Kingdom's major dams were considered within safe limits.
Jordan was on the verge of announcing a state of drought after the winter failed to witness adequate rain, but multiple depressions in late February, which brought heavy rainfall and snowfall, boosted water storage at the dams.
Meanwhile, agriculture officials said the hot weather over the past 10 days ripened fruits and vegetables in the Jordan Valley and other areas, supplying the markets with large amounts of produce.
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AL-Ram Council warns of health and environmental disaster because of solid waste accumulation
AL-Quds, May 25th, 2009
Jerusalem - Al-Ram local council called on president Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad to save the Al-Ram town in the wake of different services being discontinued as a result of the severe financial crisis facing the council.
The head of the council, Mr. Sarhan AL-Salaymeh, warned of a health and environmental disaster as a result of solid waste accumulation since the council cannot afford the gasoline for the trucks. More than 2 months ago, AL-Slaymeh said that the council declared its inability to provide many of the services and salaries, as the council has run out of cash.
The council announced that as of last Wednesday (20/5/09) the council was not able to collect the town’s trash, due to the lack of gasoline or any other needed costs, in order to operate the trucks.
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