Melting snow channels another 18mcm of water into dams

AMMAN — Melting snow this week raised storage levels by 5.7 per cent in the country’s 10 major dams, which now hold 62.1 per cent of their total capacity, a government official said on Wednesday.

“The dams received another 18 million cubic metres (mcm) as more snow is melting,” Jordan Valley Authority Secretary General Saad Abu Hammour told The Jordan Times.

The dams now hold 202mcm of their total capacity of 325mcm, he said.

This brings the total amount of water that entered the dams following the weekend blizzard to 31mcm, according to Abu Hammour.

Two dams are now at full capacity: the 29.82mcm Mujib Dam and the 1.41mcm Shuaib Dam, according to the Water Ministry.

Abu Hammour noted that despite the heavy rain and melting snow, which caused the formation of floods, the Jordan River did not overflow.

“The water flow rates of the Jordan River and the Yarmouk River are close to their average during this time of the year,” he added.

The major dams held 142.6mcm, or 43.82 per cent, of their total capacity during this time last year when the country and the region were experiencing an unprecedented lack of rain.

Last week’s storm brought 1.769 billion cubic metres of precipitation, which constitutes 20 per cent of the Kingdom’s long-term annual average of 8.196 billion cubic metres. Since the start of the wet season in October, the country has received 93 per cent of its long-term annual average of rainfall, according to Water Ministry figures.