The National Dam Safety Committee affirmed safety of the Kingdom’s dams and their readiness to receive the upcoming rainy season. In its report, the committee said its members visited all Jordan’s major dam sites across the Kingdom’s various regions and conducted inspection tours, stressing that the necessary measures were taken to pump water from dams to meet various needs and prepare dam-related budgets on a periodic basis. In a statement on Thursday, Ministry of Water’s Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) stressed importance of dams as facilities of “strategic and vital” importance, especially since the Kingdom suffers from “limited” water resources and “scarcity” of dams’ feeding resources. This situation is driven by decline and fluctuation of rainfall rates in recent years and increasing demand for water and national plans to expand, relying on agriculture to develop economic life and secure food, the statement said. The ministry also pointed to current efforts to achieve the “greatest” water benefit and increase storage capacity by building new dams and preserve the “largest” possible harvest from the rainy seasons across the Kingdom to provide consumption requirements for drinking water, domestic uses, industry, and agricultural irrigation. Additionally, the ministry noted water stored in dams is an “essential” source for irrigating crops in the Kingdom, in addition to supplying groundwater with renewable water reserves. The ministry’s specialized technical staff follows up dams’ operation and sustain their continuity by carrying out periodic maintenance work, the statement pointed out.

Source: Jordan News Agency