Palestine: FoEME calls for replacement of “failed” Joint Water Committee (JWC)

EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) calls on the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to replace the failed Joint Water Committee (JWC) with a new joint water management structure. FoEME calls on the Quartet led by the new Administration of US President Barak Obama to focus on the dire Palestinian water economy as a matter of urgency and help the parties replace the JWC with a new institution that empowers both sides as equal partners.

The World Bank report “West Bank and Gaza : assessment of restrictions on Palestinian water sector development” reveals the extent to which water resources and sustainable development are being held hostage to the conflict.

“It is time to replace the failed mechanism of the Joint Water Committee, established under Oslo, with an institution where Palestinians and Israelis are true partners in both water supply and management responsibilities,” said Nader Khateeb, Palestinian Director of Friends of the Earth Middle East.

As earlier reports of FoEME detailed and the latest World Bank report highlighted, the Joint Water Committee has failed the interests of both peoples, not providing the water quantities needed to Palestinians and not protecting shared Israeli/Palestinian water resources from large scale pollution.

“The irony is that due to the water crises, following 5 consecutive years of [drought], pollution largely from Palestinian sources poses an ever increasing threat to the declining shared water reserves,” said Gidon Bromberg, Israeli Director of Friends of the Earth Middle East. “A key problem with the JWC is that it has disempowered the Palestinians from being able to take responsibility for water management. The Palestinians receive so little of the shared water, that Israelis must ask themselves, what incentive do Palestinians have to protect shared water from pollution?” he added.

In 2008, FoEME released a Model Water Agreement that called for the replacement of the Joint Water Committee with a new body where equivalent powers and responsibilities would lie with both sides covering all shared water resources.

As the World Bank report highlights the present structure of the JWC gives virtual veto power just to the Israeli side on all shared water issues.

“After 15 years of JWC failure, the results have proven to be catastrophic. It’s urgent to free the water sector and water needs of both peoples from the conflict”, continued Nader Khateeb, FoEME Palestinian Director.

Source: FoME, 20 Apr 2009

Jordan: National Water Strategy 2008-2022 Adopted

A Royal panel tasked with formulating a new JD5.86 billion [US$ 8.32 billion] water strategy on [12 May 2009] presented its final report to His Majesty King Abdullah, who gave the go-ahead for the implementation of the plan. The strategy entails a series of water megaprojects to meet the Kingdom’s needs.

[...] ["Water for Life: Jordan's Water Strategy 2008-2022"] seeks to achieve a set of objectives, including the provision of sufficient and safe drinking water, maximising the benefits of surface water and bringing an end to arbitrary pumping from underground wells, among others.

According to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the per capita water share in Jordan is estimated at 145 cubic metres annually, while the international water poverty line is 1,000 cubic metres per capita annually.

Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said the government would endeavour to implement the strategy, emphasising the government’s keenness to execute the Disi Water Conveyance Project as soon as possible, among other projects in the sector. The premier also pointed to the ongoing World Bank-funded environmental impact and feasibility studies on the Red-Dead Canal scheme.

Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud said the strategy entails a decreasing reliance on underground water from 32 per cent currently to 17 per cent by the end of the implementation period and an increased use of treated wastewater in agriculture from 10 per cent to 13 per cent. Dependence on water desalination projects will grow from 1 per cent presently to 31 per cent in 2022.

The plan cites a water deficit of 638 million cubic metres in 2007. The minister said better water management is the answer to this problem. Even when the Disi project is fully implemented, he told the meeting, the deficit will be about 503 million cubic metres in 2022. These figures highlight the vitality of implementing desalination projects under the Red-Dead project, he said.

It also entails reducing the percentage of water loss, said the minister, adding that the total cost of the strategy includes the government’s contribution to projects implemented by the private sector.

Abu Saud, who reviewed the strategy’s goals, said its implementation requires effective institutional reforms and using water resources competently. Institutional reforms of the water sector require enacting a new water law, separating operational from administrative work, and production from distribution operations, activating the role of the Water Council and creating a commission to regulate the sector, said the minister. Such reforms, he added, also require establishing a court for water issues and increasing reliance on ICT in the management of the sector.

Source: Jordan Times, 13 May 2009