Ammon News - by Hana Namrouqa | The Jordan Times

AMMAN — The northern governorates, home to thousands of Syrian refugees, are scheduled to start receiving additional water as of Monday to meet surging demand, according to government officials.

The northern governorates, especially Irbid and Mafraq, will start receiving an additional 400-500 cubic metres per hour from different water resources, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation's spokesperson, Omar Salameh, said Sunday.

The Zaatari water pumping station, the main supplier of water to the northern region, will start receiving a total of 130 cubic metres per hour from Wadi Al Aqeb aquifer in Mafraq, some 200 cubic metres per hour from Hallabat wells in Zarqa Governorate and 100 cubic metres per hour from the corridor wells in Zarqa, Salameh said.

He added that this additional water to the north will be pumped under the ministry’s water redistribution plan following the launch of the Disi Water Conveyance Project early last month, noting that the new decision was taken during an urgent meeting on Saturday between Water Minister Hazem Nasser and the heads of the water directorates across the country.

Salameh said the minister gave instructions for the formation of a new “emergency committee”, which will comprise of water experts and technicians, to suggest within two weeks how to pump additional water to the north of the Kingdom by the start of next summer.

“An additional 800-1,000 cubic metres per hour per day are scheduled to be pumped to the north by May 1, 2014 from the Disi project,” Salameh noted.

Over 70 per cent of Syrian refugees in Jordan live amongst host communities, mainly in the north, while the rest are accommodated at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Mafraq Governorate and the Mreijeb Al Fhoud Camp in Zarqa Governorate.

UN estimates put the number of Syrians living in Jordan at 1.3 million. Of the total, around 550,000 are refugees who arrived in the Kingdom following the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011, according to official figures.

Carried out on a build-operate-transfer basis by Turkish company GAMA, the Disi water project entailed the construction of a 325-kilometre pipeline to convey 100 million cubic metres annually from the ancient Disi aquifer in southern Jordan to the capital.

The water is being transferred to Amman via a pipeline, which passes through several water stations in Maan, Tafileh, Karak and Madaba.