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Lajjoun farmers to use treated water for irrigation under new project

By Hana Namrouqa - Jun 18,2014 - Last updated at Jun 18,2014

AMMAN — Farmers in the desert town of Lajjoun in Karak Governorate will start using treated wastewater to irrigate their fodder crops, officials said on Wednesday.

Under agreements signed by the Environment Ministry, the Jordan Cooperative Association and USAID, 80-100 farmers in Lajjoun, some 140km south of Amman, will benefit from a project to encourage planting fodder and irrigating the crop with treated wastewater from the Lajjoun wastewater treatment plant.

Environment Minister Taher Shakhshir said the project will be implemented in two phases and is expected to be completed in 2019, noting that the first phase will cost JD180,000 and will end by next year.

Shakhshir added that USAID will fund 58 per cent of the first phase, and has extended JD105,000, while the remainder will be paid from the environmental compensation programme.

“State-of-the-art” irrigation networks will be installed under the project, the minister said, noting that water pumps will operate using solar energy to save the use of diesel.

“Today, the cooperation between USAID and the Environment Ministry is focusing on a crucial issue, which is improving the water use efficiency of the Kingdom’s limited water resources through the reuse of treated wastewater to produce fodder,” Shakhshir said at the signing ceremony.

The project has several advantages, he noted, such as strategic use of scarce water resources, supporting local farms to address a fodder shortage, solving an environmental problem and improving the livelihood of local communities.

“It also includes a new approach of promoting the use of solar energy, which is a continuation of the Environment Ministry’s support for the development of alternative and environmentally friendly energy resources,” Shakhshir said.

USAID Mission Director Beth S. Paige underscored the importance of water conservation in Jordan, where resources are limited. She highlighted the project’s role in improving livelihoods in Lajjoun, where over 1,000 people live.

The ministry’s environmental compensation programme is funded by the UN Compensation Committee (UNCC), following the 1991 Gulf war.

In 2005, the UNCC decided to grant Jordan $160.5 million in compensation for damage incurred by the Kingdom’s water, environment, wildlife, marine life and agriculture in the aftermath of the war, in addition to $1.4 million to tackle the salinity of the country’s underground water basins.

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