Major dams receive 10mcm of water over past week

AMMAN — Ten million cubic metres (mcm) of water entered the country’s 10 major dams over the past week, raising storage levels to 39.8 per cent, government officials said on Saturday.

The dams now hold 129.5mcm of their total capacity of 325mcm, Water Minister Hazem Nasser said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

Describing last week’s rainfall as a promising start for the wet season, Nasser added that the rain came early this year, representing 27.7 per cent of the country’s long-term annual average of 8.5 billion cubic metres.

“We are hopeful that this season will bring sufficient and constant rain especially in light of the scarce rainfall that Jordan and the region have been witnessing over the past years due to climate change. Scant rainfall negatively affected underground aquifers, which caused desertification and receding agricultural lands,” the minister underscored.

Water Ministry Spokesperson Omar Salameh told The Jordan Times that current storage at the dams is higher than the same period in 2013.

Ministry figures indicate that the dams held only 28 per cent, or 91mcm, of their total capacity in early December last year.

The largest amount of rainwater entered King Talal Dam, which received over 6mcm during the last two depressions, the statement quoted Nasser as saying.

Meanwhile, the Mujib and Waleh dams didn’t receive any rainwater during last week's depression, while the 1.43mcm-Shuaib Dam is now at full capacity.

The ministry statement indicated that dams in the southern region didn’t receive any additional amounts of water as less than 1 millimetre of rain was recorded in the area.

The country was affected by a depression last Tuesday, which brought heavy rain to the northern and central regions of the country.