Thieves divert public water in Jordan for greenhouses and swimming pools.
With the Middle East facing a severe water shortage, government efforts to desalinate sea water, regulate usage and prevent waste are being undermined by a growing problem: theft. Thieves have gotten creative about diverting water from public pipes for private or business purposes, bypassing the water authority’s meters and ending up with free, unrestricted amounts of high-quality water.
Jordan has seen 100 cubic meters an hour stolen from its supplies over the last six months, and authorities estimate that 7% of Amman’s water supply has been lost this year, most likely to theft.
The executive director of the Jordan Water Company, Saad Abu Hammour, is especially concerned about an increase in aggressive tactics used to steal public water.
After receiving a complaint about illegal water usage in Muwaqqar, Miyahuna teams discovered four separate breaches, where water was being siphoned from their 300-millimeter diameter supply pipeline in the district.
“One of the violators extended a 1.5-inch diameter pipe and pumped out 15 cubic metres per hour from our network to irrigate his 150-dunam farm, fill his swimming pool and sell water to adjacent industries and farms,” Abu Hammour said.
Another violation, which the Miyahuna official described as “the most outrageous” case, was registered last Saturday in Um Al Amad.
According to the company, the violator dug up a main street to reach Miyahuna’s 80-centimetre diameter underground pipe to pump water to his properties.
“The violator extended a two-inch diameter pipe to our pipeline and then repaved the street with asphalt. He used the water to irrigate 40 greenhouses, supply his villa with water and fill up a 100-cubic-metre swimming pool,” Abu Hammour said, noting that each greenhouse consumed 800 cubic metres per day.
As populations increase and water quality and availability decrease, governments will need to crack down on water thieves. They will most certainly adopt two main techniques to deal with this problem: use of existing and developing technology to uncover theft quickly, and increased punishments and fines for violators. The punishments recently meted out in Jordan did not deter the thieves, who repeated their theft a few days later.
Unfortunately, water theft has broad implications not only for the water supply but for the economy and society. Abu Hammour notes, “Water loss is not only costing us our water, money and other people’s right to equal distribution, but it also prevents us from receiving loans from international funding agencies, which place reduction of water-loss as a precondition to loan approval.”
Article and Photo Source: The Jordan Times
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Author: Hannah Katsman
Hannah learned environmentalism from her mother, a conservationist before it was in style. Once a burglar tried to enter their home in Cincinnati after noticing the darkened windows (covered with blankets for insulation) and the snow-covered car in the driveway. Mom always set the thermostat for 62 degrees Fahrenheit (17 Celsius) — 3 degrees lower than recommended by President Nixon — because “the thermostat is in the dining room, but the stove’s pilot light keeps the kitchen warmer.” Her mother would still have preferred today’s gas-saving pilotless stoves. Hannah studied English in college and education in graduate school, and arrived in Petach Tikva in 1990 with her husband and oldest child. Her mother died suddenly six weeks after Hannah arrived and six weeks before the first Gulf War, and Hannah stayed anyway. She has taught English but her passion is parental education and support, especially breastfeeding. She recently began a new blog about energy- and time-efficient meal preparation called CookingManager.Com. You can find her thoughts on parenting, breastfeeding, Israeli living and women in Judaism at A Mother in Israel. Hannah can be reached at hannahk (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
