by Hana Namrouqa | Jan 09, 2013

AMMAN — More than 44 million cubic metres (mcm) of water flowed into the country’s major dams over the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

Storage at the reservoirs went up from 62mcm on Tuesday morning to 105.5mcm by Wednesday morning, the ministry’s spokesperson, Omar Salameh, told The Jordan Times.

“Storage at the country’s dams rose by 14 percentage points between Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. The dams now hold 33 per cent of their total capacity of 325mcm,” Salameh said.

During the same period last year, the dams held 59.58mcm or 18.31 per cent of their total capacity, he noted.

“A total of 65 per cent of the country’s long-term annual average rainfall of eight billion cubic metres has been received this week,” the official underscored.
He added that the country received more than one billion cubic metres of rain over the past two days.

“This week’s depressions and cold air masses brought more rain that we have seen in years. Hopefully, by the end of the wet season, the dams will be at full capacity,” Salameh said, noting that the Waleh (8.18mcm) and Shuaib (1.43mcm) dam have reached their full capacity and overflowed.

This week’s rainfall has also allowed the JVA to stop pumping water to farmers in the Jordan Valley. The rain saved the authority from pumping around 500,000 cubic metres from the reservoirs for farmers to irrigate their crops. In addition, the rainwater is expected to raise the quality of water stored at the dams as it is clean, according to the ministry.

Salameh urged the public to protect their water gauges against freezing temperatures.

“People are urged to wrap their meters with a piece of cloth or rockwool insulation and place them inside a box to prevent the cold air and water from damaging them. If the meters are damaged, subscribers will be left without water and will incur the cost of fixing them,” Salameh reiterated.

He also called on the public to contact the ministry’s call centre on 06/5100180 or the toll free number 080022142 with any complaints.

http://jordantimes.com/precipitation-ups-dam-storage-to-over-100mcm