by Hana Namrouqa | Dec 23, 2013

As the weather warms up, more snow is melting and raising storage levels at the Kingdom’s dams, according to the Water Ministry (JT photo)
AMMAN — Eighty-four per cent of the rainwater that entered the country’s dams since the start of the wet season was collected during the past two weeks, a senior official said on Monday.

The 10 major dams, with a total capacity of 325 million cubic metres (mcm), received 43mcm since the onset of the rainy season on October 31, Water Minister Hazem Nasser said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

“A total of 36mcm out of the 43mcm that were channeled into the dams since the start of the wet season, entered during the past 13 days,” he noted.

As the weather warms up, more snow is melting and raising storage levels at the dams, according to the minister, who noted that the dams now hold 127.52mcm, or 39.18 per cent of their total capacity.

“Hopefully, rising temperatures will melt more snow this week. Some 1.2mcm entered the dams during the past 24 hours,” Nasser said.

Following a three-day snowstorm earlier this month, two dams are currently at full capacity, while a third is over 71 per cent full. In addition, the desert dams, with a total storage capacity of 40-60mcm, are full, according to the ministry.

In December 2012, the dams held 51.6mcm, or 16 per cent, of their total capacity — less than half the amount they currently hold, according to official figures.

Moreover, rainfall between late October and late December last year supplied the dams with only 7.5mcm.

http://jordantimes.com/36mcm-of-water-entered-dams-over-past-two-weeks