by Hana Namrouqa | Nov 05, 2012

AMMAN — Eighty-seven per cent of the Disi Water Conveyance Project has been completed and the mega-venture is progressing according to schedule, a source involved in the implementation of the project said on Monday.

Fifty-five per cent of the project’s production wells have been drilled and 97 per cent of the pipes have been laid, added the source, who requested anonymity.

“Blueprints and procurement of materials have been completed, as well as 88 per cent of construction work, and overall progress on the project reached 87 per cent,” the source noted.

The Disi project, work on which started in 2007 and is scheduled to finish next year, entails drilling 64 wells, 55 of which will be used for the generation of water, while nine will serve as piezometer wells to measure the elevation of water.

The piezometer wells and 30 production wells are ready, according to the source.

“A total of 330-kilometres of pipes have been laid of the 340-kilometre pipeline, which will convey water from the southern region to the capital,” the source highlighted.

The pipeline starts at the ancient Disi aquifer in southern Jordan and ends in Amman, passing through several water stations in Maan, Tafileh, Karak and Madaba. Being carried out on a build-operate-transfer basis and implemented by Turkish company GAMA, the Disi project seeks to provide the capital with 110 million cubic metres of water annually.

Experimental pumping from the aquifer is scheduled to start later this year, according to officials at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, who expect 20-30 million cubic metres of Disi water to be pumped to Amman by February next year.

The project, which is viewed as the Kingdom’s first step towards achieving water security, will be ready in July 2013. When it is operational, water supply in Amman and Zarqa is expected to improve because subscribers will start receiving water continuously instead of once a week, according to the ministry.

Under the current distribution programme, households in Jordan receive water once during a set period, usually a week to 10 days, on a rotating basis.

Scarce water resources in the country compelled the Kingdom to initiate the programme in the early 1980s to conserve limited resources and ensure a sustainable water supply for subscribers.

http://jordantimes.com/disi-project-progressing-as-per-schedule