ENCOP Environment and Conflicts Project Occasional Paper No. 13, August 1995 Water Disputes in the Jordan Basin Region and their Role in the Resolution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Stephan Libiszewski ã Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research at the ETH Zurich/ Swiss Peace Foundation Berne, 1995 ISBN 3-905641-41-0 Storing and printing of this work or of parts of it is allowed for private use only. Any other use, especially the reprint and/or the making available of the study or parts of it on the internet or intranets requires the prior agreement by the author. Quoting and linking to the electronic version of the study are welcome as far as the author and the URL are credited. The usual academic quotation rules apply. To obtain additional copies or project information, contact: Center for Security Policy and Conflict Research Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Attn: ENCOP 8092 Zurich - Switzerland Voice: +41-1-632 40 25 Fax: +41-1-632 19 41 E-mail: [email protected] General information about the ENCOP project is also available electronically under http://www.fsk.ethz.ch/fsk/encop/encop.html Stephan Libiszewski Water Disputes in the Jordan Basin Region and Their Role in the Resolution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict Contents 0 Introduction ..............................................................................................3 0.1 How to read this paper ........................................................................................2 1 The Environment of Conflict: Water Crisis in the Jordan Basin Region ..2 1.1 General climatic and hydrological conditions of the Middle East ..........................2 1.2 Defining the Jordan Basin region and assessing its water resources: some methodological remarks .......................................................................................3 1.3 Surface water resources .......................................................................................4 1.3.1 The Jordan-Yarmouk River system ......................................................................4 1.3.1.1 The geopolitics of the Jordan-Yarmouk system .................................................6 1.3.1.2 The utilization of the Jordan-Yarmouk waters ...................................................6 1.3.2 The Litani River ................................................................................................ 10 1.4 Groundwater Resources .................................................................................... 10 1.4.1 The Mountain Aquifer of the West Bank ........................................................... 10 1.4.2 The water crisis in the Gaza Strip ...................................................................... 13 1.4.3 Israel’s Coastal Aquifer ..................................................................................... 15 1.4.4 Internal groundwater resources in Jordan ........................................................... 15 1.5 Water pollution ................................................................................................. 16 1.6 Drying out of the Dead Sea ............................................................................... 17 1.7 Other environmental problems of the region ...................................................... 18 1.7.1 Marine pollution ................................................................................................ 18 1.7.2 Air pollution and littering of the landscape ......................................................... 20 1.7.3 Soil degradation ................................................................................................ 21 1.8 Long-term prospects for changes in water balance ............................................. 22 2 The Socio-Economic Impact of the Water Crisis ...................................23 2.1 The importance of fresh water supplies .............................................................. 23 2.2 Water balances in the countries of the Jordan Basin region in the light of expected demographic growth ........................................................................... 24 2.3 The social impact of the water crisis .................................................................. 26 2.3.1 Insufficient fulfillment of basic human needs ...................................................... 26 2.3.2 Negative effects on human health ....................................................................... 28 2.4 The economic impact of the water crisis ............................................................ 30 2.4.1 Constraints to agricultural production ................................................................ 30 2.4.2 Constraints to industrial development ................................................................ 34 Stephan Libiszewski 3 Water Disputes and Arab-Israeli Struggle: a Conglomeration of Differing Conflict Settings ...................................................................... 35 3.1 A genuine water dispute in Israeli-Jordanian negotiations ...................................36 3.1.1 Historical background ........................................................................................36 3.1.2 The Israeli-Jordanian water dispute setting at the beginning of the 1990s ...........37 3.2 The Jordan River’s headwaters as a security matter in Israeli-Syrian-Lebanese relations .............................................................................................................40 3.2.1 Historical background ........................................................................................40 3.2.2 The Israeli-Syrian water dispute setting ..............................................................42 3.3 The Israeli-occupied "South Lebanese Security Zone" and the question of water deliveries from the Litani River ................................................................44 3.4 The struggle over water rights as an integral part of the Palestine Question ........46 3.4.1 Historical background ........................................................................................46 3.4.2 The Israeli-Palestinian water conflict setting .......................................................47 4 Water Management Options for the Jordan Basin Region ................... 51 4.1 Supply-side water management options .............................................................52 4.1.1 Fully developing existing resources ....................................................................52 4.1.2 Water Harvesting ...............................................................................................52 4.1.3 Mining fossil water ............................................................................................53 4.1.4 Cleaning up polluted sources .............................................................................53 4.1.5 Wastewater recycling .........................................................................................54 4.1.6 Sea water and brackish water desalination ..........................................................55 4.1.7 Water imports ....................................................................................................56 4.1.8 Canals from the oceans to the Dead Sea .............................................................57 4.2 Demand-side water management options ...........................................................58 4.2.1 Water conservation in municipal and domestic uses ............................................59 4.2.2 Water conservation in commercial and industrial uses ........................................60 4.2.3 Improving irrigation efficiency ...........................................................................61 4.2.4 Water re-allocation among uses and sectors .......................................................63 4.2.5 Water pricing .....................................................................................................65 4.2.6 Regional water allocation through trade in markets for water rights ...................66 4.2.7 Last but not least: halting population growth .....................................................67 5 Towards Resolution? - Water Diplomacy in the Current Middle East Peace Process .......................................................................................... 68 5.1 Principles of international water law ...................................................................68 5.2 Water in the Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty .......................................................71 5.3 Water in the accords between Israel and the PLO ..............................................77 5.3.1 The Declaration of Principles .............................................................................78 5.3.2 The Gaza-Jericho Agreement .............................................................................78 5.3.3 The Interim Agreement ......................................................................................79 5.3.4 The Israeli-Palestinian water dilemma ................................................................81 5.4 The Multilateral Working Groups on Water and Environment ............................82 Water Disputes in the Jordan Basin Region 6 Conclusions .............................................................................................85 6.1 Calling for integration of water diplomacy and water management ..................... 85 6.2 Overcoming the Israeli-Palestinian water impasse: some suggestions