NOR ANY DROP TO DRINK: An Analysis of The Jordan Red Sea Project and Reconciling Environmental Concerns with the Human Right to Water

SIREE ALLERS INDEPENDENT STUDY PROJECT, SIT JORDAN FALL 2009

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink ; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge

Outline

!  Background " The Land " The Issue " The Project

!  Environmental Concerns " Dead Sea " Red Sea

!  Water and the People " Human Right " Demographic

" Socioeconomic Considerations

" Cultural considerations

!  Reconciling the Ideals !  Economic Feasibility !  Conclusion !  Points of Interest !  Works Cited

Background: The Land

!  One of the top ten driest countries in the world !  3% Arable Land !  Precipitation Average 9.4 cm/yr !  Jordan River 1950s

1.3 BCM/yr

FOA - UN

Amman

Highlands

AlGhor / Jordan Valley/ Wadi Araba

Badia

Dead Sea (417m below sealevel)

Red Sea

Background: The Issue

!  Population 5.87 million # 7.8 million in 2022 !  Groundwater extracted at 2x rate of recharge !  Energy & Economic Dependence !  Water as a casus belli !  Dead Sea shrinking by a meter a year

Jordan’s Water Strategy 08-22

Jordan’s Water Strategy 08-22

Water for the Future

http://www.greenprophet.com/2009/04/26/8550/dead-sea-sink-hole/

Background: The Project

!  Origins !  Reasons !  5 Phases

Phase 1

“fully operational and financially viable as a stand-alone project” Al-Qimish 2:14-2:36

• 50 MCM # Amman • 20 MCM # Aqaba, Wadi Araba •  5 MCM # economic zone • 50 MCM # “regional neighbors” •  expected start-date: 2014

Amman

Highlands

AlGhor / Jordan Valley/ Wadi Araba

Badia

Dead Sea (417m below sealevel)

Red Sea

Phase 2

• 80 MCM # nuclear plant

Phase 3

• 200 MCM annually # Amman

Phase 4

• Disi aquifer # 2nd nuclear

Phase 5

• 380 MCM # Amman • ? # 3rd nuclear

The Project

!  Phase I & II

!  960 MCM to Jordan and 100 for “regional uses”

!  “create confidence and momentum for the development of the JRSP grand vision of saving the Dead Sea and sustaining Jordan’s future economic growth and development”

Environmental Concerns: The Dead Sea

!  Stratification !  Alter the limnology,

geochemistry, and biology

!  Calcium-rich waters of the Dead Sea + Sulfates of brine # whitish discoloration

!  Microbial blooms unpredictable

!  Leaks/fault line FoEME

Environmental Concerns: The Red Sea

!  Benthic habitat /corals up to 3km

!  > surface temp !  < salinity !  construction

FoEME

Water and the People: Human Right

!  “access to water is a fundamental human need and a basic human right”

!  500 CM/yr poverty line

Kofi Annan

Water and the People: Demographics

!  Regional conflict is unpredictable

!  2.5% of 3.4% growth rate " Approximately 1 million

Palestinians from 1948/1967

" 300,000 from Gulf War 1990

" 700,000- 1million Iraqis

Water and the People: Socioeconomics

!  Tank sizes in Amman

!  Tariffs

!  Ancient Bedouin Wells

Water and the People: Cultural

!  Agriculture as a part of life

!  Food

Jordan’s Water Strategy 08-22

Reconciling the Ideals

!  conservation & efficiency "  “ appropriate water tariffs and incentives will be

introduced in order to promote water efficiency in irrigation” " Voluntary measures

"  w/o water-saving devices = 42 CM "  w/ water-saving devices = 16-19.5 CM … 62%

" Nonrevenue water loss

!  wait for feasibility reports " World Bank – 6/7 2011

Water for the Future

Jordan’s Water Strategy

Economic Feasibility

!  P1 & P2 alone is $18.2 billion !  “recruit and select … financiers and investors within

8 months” " Dependence on financiers/investors?

!  Environmental Degradation # Loss of Tourism $ !  International Funding for Green Technology

“BBC once interviewed me and they asked me how much would the project cost? And I said something like $5billion dollars, they said oh this is too much. I said you and your allies like America are spending $5billion a month to destroy Iraq. I am proposing 5 billion over 10 years to make life… and you say it is too much, what kind of ethics do you guys have? It’s okay to spend $5billion a month to turn Iraq into what it is today? And it is too much to pay $5billion in ten years to make life in the desert?” -Munther Haddadin

Conclusion

1.  Return to project’s original intentions 2.  Slow down

$  Expressions of Interest

3.  Focus on other internal initiatives for now "  Comprehensive infrastructural review "  Agricultural endeavors

4.  Political Transparency 5.  Green technologies # Energy independence

"  Wind "  Solar "  USAID’s new office fore Energy Research and Application

“suppose the people in Texas are swimming [in the sea] and there is no drop of water to drink, to have a bath, to clean yourself, to protect yourself from disease. Will you say no, no, no I will keep the sea for the people to come and relax?” –Fayyez Butaineh

Points of Interest

!  Nuclear Energy? … on Fault Lines

!  Water and Regional Relations

!  Climate Change, desertification

!  Jordan, Oil, Iraq !  Generational

Environmentalism !  Environmentalism and

Religion

Acknowledgements

!  Dr. Raed AlTabini !  SIT Jordan !  Geography

Department of the University of Texas at Austin