Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Ministry of Water and Irrigation

Groundwater in AZRAQ Basin

JORDAN : FOURTH DRIEST COUNTRY IN THE

WORLD

Jordan is an arid to semi arid country

An area of about 90.000 km2.

A population of 6 million.. Annual growth

rate of about 2.2 %

High flow of refugees from surrounding

countries adds burden to water supply

system due to instability in the region .

About 73% of the population lives in

urban areas concentrated in the northern

and middle parts of Jordan .

JORDAN IN FACTS AND FIGURES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jordan_pop.png

ِAverage Annual Rainfall

• High Land

400 – 600 mm (2.9%)

• Jordan Valley 50-300 mm (5.7%)

• Desert Area (Badia) 50 – 200 mm (91.4%)

Aquifer Safe Yield

MCM/yr

1) Amman-zarqa 60-70

2) Azraq 30-35

3) Yarmouk 30-35

4) Jordan River

Side Wadis

28-32

5) Jordan River 15-20

6) Dead Sea 40-50

7) Hammad 11-12

8) Sarhan 7-10

9) Jafr 7-10

10) Disi / Mdawara 2-3

ً 11) Wadi Araba /

North

5-7

12) Wadi Araba /

South

4-6

Total 240-294

Ground Water Basins

Hammad

Sarhan

Azraq

Yarmouk

Dead Sea

AlJafar

Amman-

zarqa

Wadi

araba-

South Disi-Mdawara

flow direction of

geound water

Jordan Valley

JV Side

Wadis

CHALLENGES

Populationgrowth (2.5%/year) and large refugee influxes.

Rising water needs for

expanding economic sectors, such as industry and tourism.

High rate of non-revenue-

water at around 40%. Limited funding and private

sector participation.

Weak coordination with neighboring countries of shared water resources.

Limited energy sources and high dependency on foreign sources (96% of energy comes from imported oil and gas ).

Climate change predictions:

20-25% decrease and strong variability of rainfall; temperature rise of 2ºC

Long distances between areas

of high consumption and of abstraction high transportation costs.

GROUNDWATER RESOURCES

Jordan is heavily dependent on groundwater resources (over 50% of supply).

10 out of the 12 groundwater basins are over-exploited.

Agriculture is the largest water consumer with 56% of the water use in

Jordan in 2011.

Municipal

347 MCM

39 %

Livestock

8 MCM

ca 1%

Industrial

37 MCM

4 %

Irrigation

506 MCM

56 %

Water consumption in Jordan

by sector (2011)

8

OVERVIEW

Basin size: the largest in Jordan

Safe yield: 34 MCM

Elevation: 500 – 1500 masl

Rainfall: 50 - 400 mm/year

Uniqueness: Azraq Oasis

s

9

AZRAQ BASIN WATER RESOURCES

Surface Water

Wadi System with seasonal runoff

Two main springs; Druze and shishan

Groundwater

The Upper Shallow Aquifer

The Middle Limestone aquifer

The Deep Sand stone Aquifer

10

AZRAQ BASIN DILEMMA

- Groundwater over exploitation

- Around 20 m drawdown in the water table level

Continuous deterioration of water quality.

Ground water over-abstraction has led to complete cessation of the

two main springs

Azraq oasis problem; drought.

Very high évapotranspiration

11

OVER ABSTRACTION FROM GROUND WATER BASINS IN

JORDAN

GROUNDWATER BASINS SAFE YIELD (MCM/YEAR) ABSTRACTION (MCM/YEAR) % OF OVER ABSTRACTION

1. JAFR 9,00 24 267%

2. AZRAQ 24 54 225%

3. SIDE WADIS 15 28,5 190%

4. AMMAN-ZARQA 87,5 155 177%

5. NORTHERN WADI ARABA 3,5 5,75 164%

6. SOUTHERN WADI ARABA 5,5 8 145%

7. JORDAN RIVER 21 30 143%

8. DEAD SEA 57 81 142%

9. YARMOUK 40 51 128%

10. SARHAN 5 1 20%

11. HAMMAD 8 0,75 9%

12. DISI AND MUDAWARRA (125) 61,5 Non-renewable

TOTAL 275,50 500,50 182%

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AZRAQ BASIN – AVG. TREND -1.3 M/YR

AS RESULT OF OVER PUMPING

13

SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN SALINITY IN MOST

WELLS

17 wells in deep 200m are operated since the 80s.

Change of quality was detected in water

withdrawn from AWSA wells.

Salt water confined at the center of the basin.

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In order to enhance the groundwater management in

Azraq basin the groundwater resources monitoring is

highly needed.

MWI requested KFW to support monitoring project by

using new technology.

Installing of egis- imaGeau Equipment's at AWSA

wellfield in Azraq basin.

Enhancing sustainable GW management by application

of real –Time and high temporal monitoring schemes.

Monitoring project to evolution of the

brackish in AWSA wellfield by :

• Measuring electrical conductivity

• Measuring Water level

• Groundwater flow direction

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AWSA WELLFIELD

18

SALT-WATER INTRUSION

19

PROJECTION OF SALT-WATER INTRUSION

Immediate ACTION: set up a hydraulic barrier to

confine the brackish water plume :

• increase maximum volume extraction from

southern part of well field (AWSA 12,13,15)

• Install treatment plant (reverse osmosis) to treat

the brackish water

• Mix treated water with groundwater abstracted

from the Northern part of the wellfield

• Pipe and discharge the brines to Qa Al’Azraq for

natural evaporation

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Thank you