NOR ANY DROP TO DRINK:
An Analysis of The Jordan Red Sea Project and Reconciling
Environmental Concerns with the Human Right to Water
SIREE ALLERS
INDEPENDENT STUDY PROJECT, SIT JORDAN FALL 2009
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge
Outline
!
"  Socioeconomic
Background
Land
"  The Issue
"  The Project
Considerations
"  Cultural considerations
"  The
Reconciling the Ideals
!  Environmental Concerns !  Economic Feasibility
"  Dead Sea
!  Conclusion
"  Red Sea
!  Points of Interest
!  Water and the People
!  Works Cited
"  Human
Right
"  Demographic
!
Background: The Land
One of the top ten driest countries in the world
!  3% Arable Land
!  Precipitation
Average
9.4 cm/yr
!  Jordan River 1950s
!
1.3 BCM/yr
FOA - UN
Amman
Highlands
AlGhor /
Jordan Valley/
Wadi Araba
Badia
Dead Sea
(417m below sealevel)
Red Sea
Background: The Issue
Population 5.87 million # 7.8 million in 2022
!  Groundwater extracted at 2x rate of recharge
!  Energy & Economic Dependence
!  Water as a casus belli
!  Dead Sea shrinking by a meter a year
!
Jordan’s Water Strategy 08-22
Jordan’s Water Strategy 08-22
Water for the Future
http://www.greenprophet.com/2009/04/26/8550/dead-sea-sink-hole/
Background: The Project
Origins
!  Reasons
!  5 Phases
!
Phase 1
“fully operational and
financially viable as a
stand-alone project”
Al-Qimish 2:14-2:36
• 50 MCM # Amman
• 20 MCM # Aqaba,
Wadi Araba
•  5 MCM # economic
zone
• 50 MCM #
“regional neighbors”
•  expected start-date:
2014
Amman
Highlands
AlGhor /
Jordan Valley/
Wadi Araba
Badia
Dead Sea
(417m below sealevel)
Red Sea
Phase 2
• 80 MCM # nuclear
plant
Phase 3
• 200 MCM annually
# Amman
Phase 4
• Disi aquifer # 2nd
nuclear
Phase 5
• 380 MCM # Amman
• ? # 3rd nuclear
The Project
!
!
!
Phase I & II
960 MCM to Jordan and
100 for “regional uses”
“create confidence and
momentum for the
development of the JRSP
grand vision of saving the
Dead Sea and sustaining
Jordan’s future economic
growth and development”
Environmental Concerns: The Dead Sea
!
!
!
!
!
Stratification
Alter the limnology,
geochemistry, and
biology
Calcium-rich waters of
the Dead Sea +
Sulfates of brine #
whitish discoloration
Microbial blooms
unpredictable
Leaks/fault line
FoEME
Environmental Concerns: The Red Sea
Benthic habitat /corals
up to 3km
!  > surface temp
!  < salinity
!  construction
!
FoEME
Water and the People: Human Right
!
“access to water is a fundamental human need and
a basic human right”
Kofi Annan
!
500 CM/yr poverty line
Water and the People: Demographics
Regional conflict is
unpredictable
!  2.5% of 3.4% growth rate
!
"  Approximately
1 million
Palestinians from
1948/1967
"  300,000 from Gulf War
1990
"  700,000- 1million Iraqis
Water and the People: Socioeconomics
!
Tank sizes in Amman
Tariffs
!
Ancient Bedouin Wells
!
Water and the People: Cultural
Jordan’s Water Strategy 08-22
Agriculture as a part
of life
!  Food
!
Reconciling the Ideals
!
conservation & efficiency
“ appropriate water tariffs and incentives will be
introduced in order to promote water efficiency in irrigation”
Jordan’s Water Strategy
"  Voluntary measures
"
w/o water-saving devices = 42 CM
"  w/ water-saving devices = 16-19.5 CM … 62%
"
"  Nonrevenue
!
water loss
wait for feasibility reports
"  World
Bank – 6/7 2011
Water for the Future
Economic Feasibility
P1 & P2 alone is $18.2 billion
!  “recruit and select … financiers and investors within
8 months”
!
"  Dependence
on financiers/investors?
Environmental Degradation # Loss of Tourism $
!  International Funding for Green Technology
!
“BBC once interviewed me and they asked me how much would the project cost?
And I said something like $5billion dollars, they said oh this is too much. I said
you and your allies like America are spending $5billion a month to destroy Iraq.
I am proposing 5 billion over 10 years to make life… and you say it is too much,
what kind of ethics do you guys have? It’s okay to spend $5billion a month to
turn Iraq into what it is today? And it is too much to pay $5billion in ten years to
-Munther Haddadin
make life in the desert?”
Conclusion
1.
2.
Return to project’s original intentions
Slow down
$
3.
Focus on other internal initiatives for now
"
"
4.
5.
Expressions of Interest
Comprehensive infrastructural review
Agricultural endeavors
Political Transparency
Green technologies # Energy independence
"
"
"
Wind
Solar
USAID’s new office fore Energy Research and Application
“suppose the people in
Texas are swimming [in
the sea] and there is no
drop of water to drink,
to have a bath, to clean
yourself, to protect
yourself from disease.
Will you say no, no, no I
will keep the sea for the
people to come and
relax?” –Fayyez
Butaineh
Points of Interest
!
!
!
!
!
!
Nuclear Energy? … on
Fault Lines
Water and Regional
Relations
Climate Change,
desertification
Jordan, Oil, Iraq
Generational
Environmentalism
Environmentalism and
Religion
Acknowledgements
Dr. Raed AlTabini
!  SIT Jordan
!  Geography
Department of the
University of Texas at
Austin
!