Drinking water stored in dams below 50 per cent capacity — Water Ministry

AMMAN — Water stored in the Kingdom’s 14 main dams for drinking purposes is still below 50 per cent capacity, Assistant Secretary General of the dams department at the Water Ministry Hisham Heisa said on Tuesday. 

In remarks to The Jordan Times, Heisa said that the rainfall expected in the coming period “will hopefully increase the amount designated for drinking purposes”.

As of Sunday morning, the total amount of water stored in the Kingdom’s dams had reached around 182 million cubic metres (mcm), or 54 per cent of their total capacity of 336.3mcm. 

Last year during the same period of the rainy season, Heisa said that Jordan’s dams collected 172mcm, or 51 per cent of their total capacity. 

However, the storage in southern dams is currently lower than last year’s, with 7.3mcm in Al Waleh Dam as of Sunday morning, 15mcm in Al Mujib Dam, 3.4mcm in Al Tannour Dam, 225,000 cubic metres in Al Lujoun Dam and 229,000 cubic metres in Karak Dam.

The assistant secretary general called for following the Water Ministry’s official statements to keep up with news related to dams and the possibility of overflowing during the upcoming forecast rainfall.

He noted that Jordan’s main dams meet the Kingdom’s needs for both drinking water and agricultural and industrial purposes.