All septic tankers to be equipped with electronic tracking system

AMMAN — Work is now under way to instal electronic tracking systems on all of the country’s septic tankers to prevent random dumping of wastewater, according to officials.

Under an agreement signed on Monday between the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Transport, a total of 700 septic tankers will be equipped with tracking devices to monitor the location of vehicles’ discharge of municipal wastewater.

Minister of Environment Yaseen Khayyat said that the ministry is deploying modern technologies in its quest to monitor the state of the environment and end violations.

“The new measure seeks to put an end to the prevailing randomness in unloading municipal wastewater. The process is now regulated and monitored,” Khayyat told The Jordan Times.

A database of owners of septic tankers, their locations and routes has been created, according to ministry spokesperson Isa Shboul, who noted that the step seeks to protect the environment from pollution, particularly underground water.

The ministry’s official figures indicate that, since the new Environment Protection Law went into force in April 10 owners of septic tankers have been referred to the prosecutor general after they were discovered  unloading wastewater at undesignated locations.

An operations centre at the Environment Ministry will be set up to monitor the electronic tracking system, which will feature the authorised locations for the discharge of municipal wastewater and follow the movement of each septic tanker across the country.

The system will send notifications when a septic tanker’s valve has been opened for the disposal of wastewater if it is at an undesignated site, according to the ministry, which has reported a growing number of violations involving random disposal of municipal wastewater in different parts of the country, particularly in light of the increasing population.

The electronic tracking of wastewater tankers is the project’s first phase, according to the ministry, which said that later phases will include the tracking of waste oil and hazardous waste trucks.