Water supply suspended after Salt main carrier explosion

AMMAN — A two-decade old carrier that supplies most of Salt city in Balqa Governorate with water exploded on Monday, causing limited physical damages and leaving thousands of the hilltop city’s residents without water, according to a government official.

As of Monday evening, technical teams from the Water Authority of Jordan were trying to fix the 1016 centimetres wide pipeline, Ministry of Water and Irrigation Spokesperson Omar Salameh said.

“The pipeline burst out on Sunday/Monday evening. It is a very old pipeline, which has been built more than 20 years ago. In addition to being old and deteriorated, the city’s water infrastructure in general has been witnessing mounting pressure due to rising water demand,” Salameh told The Jordan Times.

Salameh noted that huge amounts of fresh water were already lost by the time pumping via the pipeline was suspended, adding that the explosion of the carrier caused flying stones and debris, which hit cars parked near the location.

"The explosion of the pipe did not cause injuries, but resulted in some physical damages; the glasses of three cars parked near the site were shattered. Our technical teams and the Public Security Directorate rushed to the scene to handle the situation,” Salameh said.

The value of the damages has been estimated in preparation for compensation, he added, noting that the teams have been working around the hour to replace the damaged part of the pipe. 

"Water in most of the city is suspended, but will resume once the teams announce the pipe is fixed,” Salameh said, expecting water supply to resume late Monday.

The government official urged subscribers to be patient, noting that the “situation is out of the ministry’s control”.

 “WAJ will compensate areas which missed its turn of water under the distribution programme,” Salameh concluded.