Friends of the Earth Middle Eastst Towards a Living Jordan River: An Environmental Flows Report on the Rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River May 2010 Dr. Sarig Gafny, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel Dr. Samer Talozi, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan Banan Al Sheikh, Al Quds University, Palestine Elizabeth Ya’ari, Editor, Friends of the Earth Middle East EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East Amman, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv www.foeme.org Supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Goldman Fund, the Global Nature Fund/ Ursula Merz Foundation and the Green Environment Fund. EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) is a unique organization at the forefront of the environmental peacemaking movement. As a tri-lateral organization that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian, and Israeli environmentalists, our primary objective is the promotion of cooperative efforts to protect our shared environmental heritage. In so doing, we seek to advance both sustainable regional development and the creation of necessary conditions for lasting peace in our region. FoEME has offices in Amman, Bethlehem, and Tel-Aviv. FoEME is a member of Friends of the Earth International, the largest grassroots environmental organization in the world. For more information on FoEME or to download any of our publications please visit: www.foeme.org Amman Office Munqeth Mehyar, Jordanian Director PO Box 840252 - Amman, Jordan, 11181 Tel: 962 6 5866602/3 Fax: 962 6 5866604 Email: [email protected] Bethlehem Office Nader Khateeb, Palestinian Director PO Box 421 – Bethlehem, Palestine Tel: 972 2 2747948 Fax: 972 2 2745968 Email: [email protected] Tel Aviv Office Gidon Bromberg, Israeli Director 8 Negev Street, Third Floor – Tel Aviv, 66186 Israel Tel: 972 3 5605383 Fax: 972 3 5604693 Email: [email protected] © All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, for commercial use without prior permission by EcoPeace/ Friends of the Earth Middle East. The text can be used for educational and research purposes with full accreditation to EcoPeace/ Friends of the Earth Middle East. Cover Photo: © FoEME / Hussam Hussein Contents 1 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................13 2. Environmental flows for the rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River .......................................................19 3. Methodology ...........................................................................................................................................21 3.1 Study sites 21 3.1.1 Historic characterization of the Lower Jordan River ................................................................23 3.1.2 Historic records of macroinvertebrate biodiversity ................................................................25 3.1.3 Historic hydrology ..................................................................................................................25 3.1.4 Historic flora ..........................................................................................................................28 3.2 Experiment design 28 3.3 Field sampling 29 A. Morphology and hydrology: .................................................................................................29 B. Water quality: .......................................................................................................................29 C. Macroinvertebrate assemblage: .......................................................................................... 30 D. Botanical biodiversity: ......................................................................................................... 30 4. Results .....................................................................................................................................................31 4.1 Historic data on habitat characteristics in the Lower Jordan River 31 4.2 Characterizing the current in-stream habitat 32 4.2.1 Morphology and hydrology of the river canal .........................................................................32 4.2.2 Water quality ..........................................................................................................................37 4.2.3 Macroinvertebrate assemblage ............................................................................................ 45 4.2.3.1 Current records of macroinvertebrate biodiversity ...................................................46 4.2.3.2 Comparison of current macroinvertebrate records with reference sites ...................47 4.2.4 Botanical biodiversity .............................................................................................................48 5. Discussion ...............................................................................................................................................51 5.1 Defining the gaps between pre- and post perturbation conditions of the Lower Jordan River 51 5.2 Ecological consequences of the gaps between pre- and post perturbation conditions and the effect on the structure and function of the Lower Jordan River ecosystem 52 5.3 Recommendations and proposals - rehabilitation scenarios 53 5.3.1 “Take No Action” scenario ......................................................................................................54 5.3.2 “Full Restoration” scenario .....................................................................................................54 5.3.3 “Partial Restoration” scenario ................................................................................................55 5.3.4 “River Rehabilitation” scenario ...............................................................................................56 5.3.5 “Flow Enhancement” scenario ...............................................................................................57 5.4 Advantages and disadvantages for the rehabilitation scenarios 58 6. Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................61 7. Works Cited ............................................................................................................................................ 63 8. Appendices .............................................................................................................................................69 4 Note of Gratitude FoEME would like to recognize and thank the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Global Nature Fund/ Ursula Merz Foundation and the Green Environment Fund for their support of this project. Additional thanks are due to the many international, regional and local experts for their participation in our National and Regional Advisory Committee Meetings particularly; Shafiq Habash from the Jordanian Jordan Valley Authority as well as Saleh Hlalat and Mohammed Jaradat from the Jordanian Military for facilitating our sampling trips without which this study could not have been undertaken; Hillel Glassman from the Israeli Nature Parks Authority for supporting this study with water quality data collected over many years; Professor Shimon Anisfeld and Graduate Student Janna Shub from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies for their excellent research into the historic flows of the Lower Jordan River. The views expressed are those of EcoPeace/ FoEME and do not necessarily represent the views of our expert team, project advisors, participants in the project’s National and Regional Advisory Committee meetings or our funders. 5 Expert Authors and Credits: Dr. Sarig Gafny holds a Ph.D. in Limnology from Tel Aviv University in Israel followed by a Post Doc at the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States. He is currently the Head of the Department for Marine Environment Sciences in the School of Marine Sciences at the Ruppin Academic Center in Israel. Dr. Gafny is an expert in the ecology and restoration of freshwater bodies with a special emphasis on Aquatic Conservation. Dr. Samer Talozi holds a Ph.D. and MSc. in Water Resources and Irrigation Engineering from the University of California-Davis in the United States and a BSc. in Irrigation Engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in Irbid, Jordan. Currently he works as an Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at JUST. He has over 10 years of experience in water resources management. Banan Al Sheikh holds a M.Sc. degree in Plant Taxonomy from Reading University in the United Kingdom. He currently works as a Plant Biodiversity Expert in the Department of Applied Earth and Environmental Sciences at Al Quds University and authored the Preliminary Checklist and Ecological Database of Plants of the West Bank. Editor: Elizabeth Ya’ari, Israeli Project Coordinator, Friends of the Earth Middle East Editorial and Research Assistants: Romy Zyngier, Editorial Assistant, Intern in the Tel Aviv office of FoEME Nikki Hodgson, Research Assistant, Intern in the Bethlehem office of FoEME Hadass Belitzky, Research Assistant, Student, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel FoEME Jordan River Rehabilitation Project Team: Munqeth Mehyar, Jordanian Director Gidon Bromberg, Israeli Director Nader Khateeb,