Jordan PM: water tops gov't's priorities

The water sector tops the Jordanian government's priorities due to the water shortage facing the kingdom, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said on Saturday.
During a meeting held by the Water and Irrigation Ministry, Dahabi urged the authorities to seek additional water resources, reduce water loss and improve water treatment to secure potable water for citizens and meet the needs of other sectors.
The prime minister also stressed the importance to accelerate the process of implementing the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal and the Disi water conveyance projects.
According to Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud, the water deficit for this summer stands at 12.7 million cubic meters.
Earlier in June, Saud has voiced concerns on water scarcity during a seminar, saying that Jordan is expected to experience a drought year as its major dams only hold some 40 percent of their total storage capacity.
The Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal is an ambitious project agreed by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories in 2005 to build a 110 mile (some 177 km) tunnel system to transfer water from the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea.
It aims to restore the water level of the Dead Sea, boost water supplies to the riparian countries as well as generate hydroelectric power.
The Disi water conveyance project is to finance a bulk water extraction and conveyance system running water some 325 km from the fossil Disi Aquifer on Jordan's border with Saudi Arabia to Amman.
Jordan is one of the 10 most water-deprived countries in the world. The country announced a civil nuclear energy program in January 2007, seeking for nuclear energy to desalinate seawater as well as generate electricity.
Source:Xinhua