Water Crisis in the Middle East: The Jordan River Basin

The issue I have decided to examine for my case study is the water crisis in the Middle East with the problems involving the Jordan river. The countries in the Jordan river Basin, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, are the subjects that are affected by this issue. These countries are all somewhat dependent on the Jordan river for anything ranging from agriculture, drinking water, to sanitation. The location of this river is what puts these dependent countries at risk. The region this river is located in has a long history of conflict, which makes sharing this natural resource very difficult. The climate is also extremely arid with low precipitation, which makes water a very valuable resource in this region.

There is no one cause to this water crisis; causes come both from man and nature. Severe drought, population growth, regional conflicts, and governmental conflicts are all causes to the overall problem that is the water crisis in all of the affected area. Each of these contribute to the water crisis and each bring about their own problems. Drought lessens the amount of water fed into the river and lessens water reserves, over population causes the river to get over used, regional conflicts cause the water issue to be overlooked and allows the water to be polluted as well, and government conflicts over water causes disputes and causes the governments to shy away from working together.

Some of these countries have shown they are resilient by trying to find a solution to the water crisis, but they are working by themselves to do so. An exception to this is the peace treaty signed in 1994 by Israel and Jordan to share the river and help one another keep enough reserves so both have enough to supply their citizens. There are other various projects in place to supply water to countries citizens, but without a united front, I do not think a permanent solution will be found.

I believe the conflict through out history in this region will continue to leave the citizens residing here at risk. I say this because if not all the countries in this region find a permanent solution, then the problem is not fixed. Can all the affected countries put aside their differences to find a solution, or will years of conflict let the river run contaminated until it's dry?

Top Picture: Map of Jordan River

Second Picture: Example of how dirty the water has become

Third Picture: This shows how low the river now is, it used to go all the way up to the spillway on the top right of the picture.

Last Picture: Shows a woman taking a picture of a sewage pipe dumping sewage directly into the river.