‘Over 11,000 illegal fixtures dismantled to combat water theft’

AMMAN — Over the past year, authorities have dismantled some 11,000 pipes which were used to illegally divert hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of water, a government official said on Saturday.

The majority of the pipes were diverting water from mains either to private farms or for filling tankers to sell water to people, the government official noted.

The illegal fixtures were removed under an ongoing campaign that covers all the governorates to put an end to violations on water resources, he highlighted.

“Scores of illegal fixtures were the main reason behind disruptions in the water supply to several residential areas,” the official noted, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He noted that the Water Ministry launched the campaign late last year with the aim of ending water theft.

“In addition, some 400 wells were sealed in different parts of the Kingdom and scores of drilling rigs were also seized and confiscated,” the official told The Jordan Times.

The ministry banned the drilling of water wells in 1997 to limit random pumping of water and preserve aquifers from depletion and salinity. There are 1,318 wells across the country, of which, more than 400 are unlicensed or illegal, according to ministry figures.

“Depletion of underground water is a serious threat to the country’s water resources, especially since the amount of water pumped is more than double the amount the aquifers received during winter,” the official noted.

He added that since the campaign was launched, the ministry referred over 1,000 cases involving abuse of water resources and networks to the courts, which will treat the cases as “economic crimes”.

The government recently announced that it was committed to putting an end to all water violations, describing water theft as a form of corruption. To this end, the government drafted new amendments to the WAJ Law, which went into effect on June 1 after being published in the Official Gazette.

The amended law stipulates stiffer penalties against those who abuse any element of the water system. Those who abuse water carriers and mains, wastewater, pumping, purification or desalination stations; or cause the pollution of water resources, pipes or stations used for drinking water; and dig or are involved in the digging of wells without obtaining a licence will be jailed for up to five years and fined up to JD7,000.

In addition, violators of WAJ water and wastewater projects will be jailed for up to three years and fined up to JD5,000, according to the new amendments.

Moreover, all penalties stipulated under the new law will be doubled in the case of repeat offenders.