Water Ministry receives vehicles, advanced machinery from Germany

AMMAN — The Ministry of Water and Irrigation on Thursday received vehicles and advanced water machinery provided by the German government to help the ministry cut down water losses and upgrade supply networks and sanitation services across the Kingdom.

In a ceremony marking the delivery of the equipment, Minister of Water and Irrigation Motasem Saidan said the supplies will be used to enhance water and sanitation services across the Kingdom and particularly in areas served by the Yarmouk Water Company and the Balqa Water Department, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Speaking of efforts to enhance water supply, Saidan said that the ministry is striving to upgrade services in areas suffering from recurrent supply shortage as a result of the Syrian refugee crisis and demand-driven depletion of available resources.

The ministry, he added, has been working to speed up the implementation of strategic projects, such as the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project, which will supply water to the various governorates of the Kingdom.

In regard to the new machinery and equipment — part of the technical assistance by the German government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development/German Corporation for International Cooperation — the minister said they included 45 mobile workshops that will be used to improve networks and bring water losses down by 1 per cent, Petra reported.

The assistance also included 24 double-cabin pickups and six fully equipped vehicles that will be used to detect leakage. Additionally, the machinery included seven maintenance trucks, two energy-lab vehicles and a skid-steer loader to handle sludge at the Wadi Hassan sewage stations.

Saidan stressed that the ministry is committed to completing several water projects as soon as possible to achieve the National Water Strategy, which includes developing and maintaining water resources, enhancing sanitation services, improving water supply and expanding programmes for reusing treated water, among others.