Jordan to Move Forward With Aqaba Desalination Plant

The Jordanian government this week announced plans to move ahead with the Aqaba Desalinated Water Pipeline project, which will temporarily replace the multi-billion-dollar Red Sea-Dead Sea water conveyance project, according to Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazem al Nasser.

“The Red-Dead Sea water project was not started because successive governments failed to give it due attention. In addition, some neighboring countries did not want the project to be implemented as we hoped,” Nasser told a workshop in Amman, organized by the Energy and Environment Sustainability Association.

“We will start with an initial phase of the project by desalinating around 85 million cubic meters annually in Aqaba,” he said. “The wastewater arising from the desalinated water pipeline project will be channelled into the Dead Sea” through a 205-kilometer pipeline.

The water levels in the Dead Sea are decreasing by one meter annually, according to government estimates. Adding the saline wastewater in the sea will help maintain its current levels.

“Wastewater will be injected 100 meters beneath the level of the Dead Sea in order to make sure it mixes with the seawater,” Nasser said.

It is hoped that the project will bridge the widening gap between the kingdom’s growing water needs and its available resources.

“By 2035, water shortage will hit 200 million cubic meters annually,” Nasser warned.

The Aqaba pipeline project will involve building a water intake with a capacity of 2.2 billion cubic meters per year on the Red Sea just north of the city of Aqaba. The desalination plant component will produce 85 million cubic meters of water annually, which will be transported to Amman via 48-kilometer-long pipeline.

The Palestinian Authority recently expressed reservations about the Red-Dead canal, which has been championed by Israel and Jordan.

Palestinian officials stipulated that they will not approve the Red-Dead Sea project unless the Palestinian Authority is granted the right to build a desalination plant on the Dead Sea to make use of al Fashakha Springs.

Palestinian Water Minister Shaddad Attili added another condition: that the Palestinian territories be given the right to obtain water from Lake Tiberias if Jordan builds a desalination plant in Aqaba.