March 19, 1999. Copyright 1999. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

ISRAEL-JORDAN RIFT OVER WATER

LONDON, March 19, Graphic News: ISRAELÕS refusal to provide water promised to Jordan under a peace treaty, less than five years after it was signed, is a reminder that control of the vital resource in a region of growing population and little rain has long been seen as a potential cause of war.
Israel pledged in the 1994 treaty to transfer two billion cubic feet (57 million cubic metres) of water per year to Jordan from shared sources in the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers.
But Israeli Water Commissioner Meir Ben-Meir said in a statement that poor rain had depleted water resources to their lowest point since 1980 and that Israel planned to reduce supply for 1999 by 50 percent, to one billion cubic feet (28 million cubic metres).
Israel cited unusual weather and severe drought Ð which has reduced the water level in the Sea of Galilee and its feeder rivers Ð but the driest winter in years has only accelerated a problem that has been growing for years. With the number of people growing more than three percent a year in the worst affected areas, supplies are overwhelmed.
Jordan lacks the rivers of neighboring Syria, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq and the money of the oil-rich Persian Gulf states for desalination. Water scarcity is most evident during the torrid summer. 
The Jordan government Ð which declared a drought this year Ð is preparing further water rationing. Minister of Water, Kamel Mahadeen, is expected to announce a series of emergency measures, including controls on wells and domestic water supply. ÒWe expect we will be able to cope with the help of citizens and technical staff,Ó Mahadeen said.
But even without the dry winter, the outlook is bleak. Most Middle East countries will not have enough water next year to meet demand according to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). 
Jordan is among the worst off, with reservoirs only one-third full compared to around 65 percent last year as the hot, rainless summer looms. By 2000 JordanÕs water supply will be less than two-thirds of demand.
In Syria watertables are sinking and some tributaries of the Barada River, which has fed Damascus through the centuries, are now dry when they should be in full flood.
In fertile Lebanon, ski slopes failed to open this year because of the driest winter weather for 30 years. 
ESCWA warns that the closer each state comes to depletion of its water resources, the greater the likelihood of conflict. But there are solutions short of war or mass emigration.
Rich countries such as Israel or Arab oil states can afford desalinsation. Countries can cut waste, such as leaking pipes that can consume up to half a cityÕs water supply.
An inevitable step will be reducing the amount of water used for agriculture Ð itself often driven by the rising population Ð to keep the dwindling supply for drinking.
Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel SharonÕs office said in a statement that IsraelÕs peace treaty with Jordan excluded drought and severe climatic conditions. Israel has already ordered a 25 percent cut in supply to domestic agriculture and called on the Palestinian Authority Ð whose West Bank aquifers are used by Israel to supply much of the Jewish stateÕs needs Ð to cut water use further.
IsraelÕs dispute with Jordan marks the first bump in relations between the neighbours since King Abdullah, the eldest son of the late King Hussein, took the throne on February 7.
/ENDS
Sources: World Bank, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC World Service