The Jordan River Basin

Fall 2005

Overview

• Location and History• Importance of the Jordan Basin• Problems in the Jordan Basin• History behind the conflict• The Israeli National Water Carrier• Johnston Plan• Water agreements

Location and History

• Lies in the south part of Asia (The Middle East)

• Hydropolitics related to both the Nile River and the Euphrates and Tigris Basin

Countries Sharing the Jordan Valley

• Jordan

• Lebanon

• Syria

• Palestine

• Israel

Water Bodies in the Basin

Tiberias Lake (Sea of Galilee)

Jordan River

Dead Sea

Lake Tiberias

• Lies in the upper basin of the Jordan River

• The surface area of the lake is 167 km2

The Dead Sea

• Lowest point on the surface of the earth

• Waters have highest salinity and density

• High fluctuation water levels during the year

• Surface area of 40,560 km2

The Jordan River

• Extends from the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea to the mountains of Lebanon

• 50% is supplied by the upper basin rivers and the rest is from rainfall

• The Jordan system delivers an average annual flow of 1.85 bcm to the Dead Sea

• The total length is about 228km

The Jordan River

Upper Basin 70m ASL elevation consists of:

•Banyas River in Syria (120mcm/yr)

•Dan River in Israel (250mcm/yr)

•Hasbani, Litani Rivers in Lebanon (150mcm/yr)

The Jordan River

• Middle Basin• Yarmuk River: originates in Syria and

shared between Syria and Jordan in it’s upper portion and between Jordan and Israel in it’s lower portion (203mcm/yr)

• The lower basin 398m BSL elevation lies between Israel and Jordan

Importance of the

Jordan River Basin

Importance of the Basin

• Jordan– A middle riparian in the Yarmuk River

and co-riparian in the Jordan River

• Syria– The upper most riparian country for both

the Yarmuk and Banyas Rivers

• Lebanon– The upper most riparian country for the

Litani River

Importance of the Basin

• Palestine– The unchangeable rights on the flow of

the waters underneath its land

• Israel – Changed from the lowermost riparian to

the uppermost riparian – It is the only riparian state that has

power to develop water projects and benefit from the basin waters

Problems in the

Jordan River Basin

Problems in the Basin

• Region is arid and is mostly desert

• Variations in water flow during the year

• Scarcity of water resources for some of the riparian states

• Population Growth

Problems in the Basin

• Industrialization and urbanization

• Poor water management practices

• Distribution of water resources is far away from where water is being used

• No equality between the riparian states (military forces, economic power, and distribution of resources)

The Israeli National Water Carrier

Completed in June 1964

completed in June 1964

Israeli National Water Carrier

• A single network linking most of regional water projects throughout the country

• Pumps, canals and tunnels to transform water from Lake Tiberias to southwestern Israel

Israeli National Water Carrier

• Arab response: tried to construct upstream diversion projects in Lebanon and Syria and to support building a dam on the Yarmuk River

• Israel response: attacked these diversion projects which led to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war

History Behind the Conflict

1947 – Present

History Behind the Conflict

• 1947: Division of Palestine into Arab and Jewish countries

• 1967: All the Palestinian land was occupied by Israel

• Israel was able to put many restrictions on the using of water resources

• 1967: Israel occupied the Golan Heights in Syria because of its strategic location, its water resources and agricultural potential.

History Behind the Conflict

• Israeli Settlements were built and the number of population increased the amount of water consumed by Israel

• 1985: the southern part of Lebanon was occupied by Israel to get use of the Wazzani Springs

• By occupying these lands Israel was able to become the uppermost riparian in the basin and was able to make full use of all the surface and groundwater resources within its territory

History Behind the Conflict

• The water resources were never allocated equally

• The only solution is to achieve substantial restructuring of the economic and political geography

• Many attempts to end the conflict and reach a cooperative development and sharing of the water resources in the Jordan basin

• Johnston Plan was one of the most important plans in the region

Johnston Plan

An unsuccessful Attempt

Goals of the Plan

• Small dams on Banyas, Dan and Hasbani

• Gravity flow canals on both sides of the Jordan valley

• Draining of the Huleh swamps

• Additional storage in the Sea of Galilee (Tiberias Lake)

Water Allocation

• Jordan: 774 mcm/yr

• Israel: 394 mcm/yr

• Palestine: 100 mcm/yr

• Syria: 45 mcm/yr

Results

• The plan failed to achieve its goals

• Jordan and Israel agreed on sending technical experts to negotiate on the day to day hydrological operations of the Yarmuk and Jordan Rivers

• This led to the 1994 peace agreement between Jordan and Israel

The Water Agreement between Jordan and Israel

October 1994

The Water Agreement between Jordan and Israel

• Cooperation to: – Develop existing water resources

– Preventing contamination of resources

– Share any information on any projects dealing with water subjects

• Rights of each country to use the water resources– Based on demand and historical use of

waters• Groundwater consumption• Storage of water• Diversion of Jordan River water• Water quality

The Water Agreement between Jordan and Israel

Thank You!

Reem Khalil