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Squeezed Dry : the Historical Trajectory of the Lower Jordan River Basin

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Squeezed Dry : the Historical Trajectory of the Lower Jordan River Basin 2 Squeezed Dry: the Historical Trajectory of the Lower Jordan River Basin Mauro Van Aken,1* François Molle2** and Jean-Philippe Venot3*** 1University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy; 2Centre IRD, Montpellier, France; 3International Water Management Institute, Accra, Ghana; e-mails: *[email protected]; **[email protected]; ***[email protected] Introduction response options are interdependent and reveal the political and contested nature of The lower Jordan River basin (LJRB) provides resource sharing and water management (Molle a fascinating tale of coupled social and environ- et al., 2007). This chapter describes how these mental transformations of a waterscape. In this processes, constrained by the drastic natural semi-arid to desert area, water is an essential conditions of the basin, have unfolded since determinant of life, cultural values, social struc- the late 1950s and explores possible futures. tures, economic activities, power and politics. The trajectory of this basin from a nomadic agro-pastoral Bedouin culture to an urbanized Features of the Lower Jordan River Basin region where water circulation is highly artifi- cial, illustrates how a particular resource The Jordan River is an international river endowment is valued, mobilized, shared, used which drains a total area of about 18,000 km². and fought for. Its three headwater tributaries originate in This chapter first recounts past water Lebanon and Syria and flow into Lake Tiberius, resource development in the LJRB – defined as a freshwater reservoir now used almost exclu- the Jordanian part of the Jordan River basin, sively by Israel (Fig. 2.1). The Jordan River downstream of Lake Tiberius – and dwells on then flows southward before discharging into the specific relationships between water, local the Dead Sea. culture and national/regional politics. The Ten kilometres downstream of Lake historical evolution of supply and demand is Tiberius, the lower Jordan River receives water then expressed in terms of water balances that from its main tributary, the Yarmouk River, quantify the degree of closure of the basin.1 which originates in Syria. The Zarqa River and Water challenges and response options are several temporary streams of lesser impor- then addressed through the lens of the distribu- tance, named side-wadis, come from the two tion of the benefits and costs they entail, and of mountainous banks and feed the lower Jordan their linkages with the current distribution of River (Fig. 2.1). Prior to water development decision making and political power. Basin projects, the original flow of the Jordan River closure induces increased interconnectedness into the Dead Sea varied between 1100 and between water users and ecosystems through 1400 Mm3/year (El-Nasser, 1998; Klein, an increasingly manipulated water cycle: 1998; Al-Weshah, 2000). © CAB International 2009. River Basin Trajectories: Societies, Environments and Development 20 (eds F. Molle and P. Wester) The Lower Jordan River Basin 21 Fig. 2.1. The lower Jordan River basin in Jordan. This chapter focuses on the LJRB and does • The Jordan valley is a 110 km stretch not dwell on the geopolitical issues related to between the Yarmouk River in the north water sharing between the riparian states of and the Dead Sea in the south. Its altitude the Jordan River (Lebanon, Syria, Israel, varies from 200 m (in the north) to 400 m Jordan). The Yarmouk River and the upper below sea level (in the south). The valley Jordan are thus considered as contributing can be considered as a natural greenhouse, inflow to this basin. Moreover, the other with moderate temperatures during winter streams draining to the Dead Sea from the and high records during summer, commonly south and from Israel are also not analysed. exceeding 45 °C. Rainfall ranges from 350 The LJRB represents 40% of the entire mm/year in the north to 50 mm/year near Jordan River basin but only 7.8% of the the Dead Sea (Fig. 2.3). The Jordan River Jordanian territory (cf. Fig. 2.1). The basin so flows in a 30–60 m deep gorge through a defined is nevertheless the wettest area in 0.2–2 km wide fertile alluvial plain, locally Jordan, is home to 83% of the population, called Al Zhor (Fig. 2.2). The rest of the supplies 80% of the national water resources, valley, Al Ghor, is a 4–20 km wide area and encompasses most irrigated areas. The with deep and fertile colluviums. basin, like the country, is divided into two main • The highlands comprise a mountain range areas (see Fig. 2.2): running alongside the Jordan valley (named 22 M. Van Aken et al. Uplands hereafter) and a badia (desert ations (Amman, Irbid, Al-Baq’ah, Jerash, plateau) extending eastwards to Syria and Ajloun) are concentrated. Eastward, precipita- Iraq (Fig. 2.2). About 30 km wide, with an tion becomes scarcer (between 200 and 300 altitude reaching 1000 m above sea level, mm/year), and only nomadic livestock farming these mountains receive around 400–600 and some groundwater-irrigated farms can be mm of rain per year, while snowfall can also found. be observed during winter (Fig. 2.3). Total precipitation in the LJRB is estimated Historically, they were covered with forests at 2235 Mm3. In crude terms, 88% of this (essentially composed of Mediterranean precipitation is directly evaporated (40% of this coni fers), but are now mostly composed of evaporation being beneficial, i.e. consumed by rangelands with olive trees and stone-fruit irrigated and rainfed crops or domestic and trees. industrial uses), 5% flows into the rivers, and the remaining 7% infiltrates to recharge the The eastern plateau has an average altitude aquifers (and is then pumped to meet human of 600 m, and rainfed cereals are grown near demands). the mountains, in the area where rainfall is still The flow at Lake Tiberius, which averaged sufficient and where main urban agglomer- 605 Mm3/year before the 1950s (Klein, Fig. 2.2. Topography of the lower Jordan River basin in Jordan. Fig. 2.3. Average rainfall distribution in the lower Jordan River basin in Jordan.2 The Lower Jordan River Basin 23 1998), is now diverted by Israel to its National Jordan, where they established themselves in Water Carrier. The Yarmouk River is thus the the eastern steppe and, with the help of ingen- main source of surface water: its flow averaged ious hydraulic infrastructures, were able to 470 Mm3/year in the 1950s (Salameh and farm the land at Petra while maintaining impor- Bannayan, 1993), while the side-wadis and the tant trading activities. After the conquest of the Zarqa River originally contributed 120 and 90 region by the Romans, the economy came to Mm3/year, respectively (Baker and Harza, rely on a flourishing irrigated agriculture, trade 1955). and Christian pilgrimages (Lancaster, 1999). The main aquifers closely dovetail with the Through ups and downs, the region five main sub-basins (Fig. 2.3): the Yarmouk witnessed the Islamic conquest, the Ummayads, basin (YM), which drains northward to the the Abbasids, the Crusades, the Ayyubid– Yarmouk River; the Zarqa basin (AZB), which Mamluk era (1187–1516) and the Ottoman drains most of the badia towards the valley; conquest in 1516. The Jordan valley reached the northern and southern side-wadi basins the peak of its agricultural development during (NSW and SSW, respectively), which pool the first period of the Mamluks (14–15th lateral wadis north and south of the Zarqa century). Irrigation developed wherever possi- River; and the Jordan valley (JV) itself. Annual ble, and sugar mills, powered by water, were recharge of the aquifers is estimated at built in many spots in the valley. The Ottoman 155–160 Mm3/year (THKJ, 2004). administration period, in contrast, was charac- terized by instability and depopulation in both the valley and the highlands. In 1956, the A Chronology of Water Resources population of the east bank of the Jordan River Development (Transjordan) was estimated at 52,000 (Abujaber, 1988). Ancient settlements and early land In Western travel accounts of the 19th development century, the Jordan valley appears as a wild and dangerous place (with the threat of malaria The lower Jordan River basin is at the heart of and the fear of attack and robbery by Bedouin historical transformations in the Middle East, tribes) but, at the same time, as a biblical region due to its central position ‘as a land bridge for with impressive, exotic scenery. The valley was animals and humans between Africa and a large grazing ground and an important region Eurasia; a Levantine corridor, a transit route intersecting the tribal land of several Bedouin for large and small migrant groups but also an tribes. Up to World War II, surface irrigation area pinned between powerful states: Egypt to was practised along the wadi valleys and, most one side, Northern Syria/Mesopotamia to the prominently, at the point where wadis formed other’ (van der Koij and Ibrahim, 1990: 14). alluvial fans in the Jordan valley (Lancaster, Large settlements like Ain Ghazal (near 1999; Suleiman, 2004). Management was today’s Amman) are associated with the com munal, under the authority of the tribes’ Neolithic period (c.8000–6000 BC ). In this sheikh, but coexisted with forms of private period, plants and animals (sheep, goats, cattle, ownership of land and even of collective owner- pigs) were domesticated. Rainfed farming of ship of spring water and well water (Shryock, wheat, barley and legumes expanded later, in 1997). the fourth millennium BC , to lentils, bitter vetch, sesame, olives, flax, dates and grapes. Rock basins and pools collecting natural water were The first planning interventions: 1921–1973 utilized for storage for domestic and agricul- tural uses (Lancaster, 1999). Transjordan was placed under temporary British Later, 900–300 BC was a flourishing period administration (Mandate) in 1921 and became for the Arabic kingdoms and a peaceful time in fully independent in 1946, as the Hashemite the LJRB.
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