Water supply to north resumes after main fixed

AMMAN — Water supply to the northern governorates resumed on Tuesday afternoon after authorities fixed the main carrier providing the region with water, according to an official.

The 600-millimetre-wide water main burst on Monday afternoon due to an overload, Yarmouk Water Company Director Mohammad Rababa said on Tuesday.

“Demand for water in the north, which hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, has been increasing, thus raising the load on the pipeline, which is already old and deteriorated,” Rababa added.

He noted that the company increased the amount of water transferred via the pipeline to its maximum capacity of 2,300 cubic metres per hour to meet the rising demand for water in Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun and Mafraq governorates, which host the majority of Syrian refugees, and due to the soaring temperatures.

The water distribution programme was slightly affected, according to Rababa, who said that households started receiving water as of Tuesday afternoon.

Under the water distribution programme, households receive water once during a certain period on a rotating basis. Scarce water resources in the country compelled the Kingdom to initiate the programme in the early 1980s to conserve limited resources whilst ensuring a sustainable supply of water.

The northern governorates receive the lowest water per capita and suffer from the highest water loss rates in the Kingdom, standing at 60 per cent in Mafraq, 35 per cent in Irbid, 28 per cent Ajloun and 24 per cent Jerash, according to Water Ministry figures.

Jordan hosts the third largest number of refugees in the world, and the largest refugee community globally when compared with the population.

UNHCR figures indicate that there are more than 606,000 registered Syrian refugees in the Kingdom.