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Ammon News - By Hana Namrouqa/ Jordan Times

AMMAN — Authorities on Wednesday night seized a driller digging an illegal water well in Mafraq Governorate, a government official said on Thursday.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the Public Security Department (PSD) seized the driller in Thaghret Ajjub in Mafraq and arrested workers at the site, the ministry’s spokesperson, Omar Salameh, said on Thursday.

“The violators hid the driller on board a tow vehicle,” Salameh told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Authorities on Wednesday morning noticed the “suspicious vehicle”, the official said, adding that teams from the PSD and the ministry’s security and protection teams raided the site later that night and detained the violators.

“The violators are currently under investigation. They will be referred to court for tampering with underground resources,” Salameh highlighted.

Mafraq Governorate, 80km northeast of Amman, sits on one of the Kingdom’s main reservoirs and supplies Amman, Irbid, Jerash and Zarqa with water from the Sumaya artesian wells.

The ministry banned drilling of water wells in 1997 to limit random pumping of water and preserve aquifers from depletion and salinity, according to Salameh, who noted that there are over 400 illegal wells across the country.

“The ministry launched a campaign in July to end violations on the water network and shut down all illegal wells, scores of which have been sealed over the past month in cooperation with security agencies,” Salameh noted.

Under Article 30 of the Water Authority of Jordan Law, violators are fined up to JD5,000 and jailed for two years, while Article 456 of the Penal Code stipulates that violators of water networks face three- to six-month prison terms and fines ranging between JD100 and JD1,000.