By nharnish
As the Semester keeps going my research has expanded and taken a new form in Jordan. The past month has been a real eye opener for my topic and the route I want to take with this research.
My original research topic was directed towards the Jordan river and how Jordan utilizes it with its water scarcity issues. However, after some travel and eye opening interviews I've decided to tweak it. I spent my october break seeing the other side of the Jordan River Valley, the West Bank and Israel. Apart from an amazing adventure and great scenery, the experience was crucial fro my research and offered a lot of knowledge. I was astonished a the differences 50 kilometers could make. Not only is the West Bank and Israel much greener, but they actually have still bodies of water int he landscape! I spent a lot of time looking and asking questions about the water issues and Israel and the West bank, and the outlook look a lot better then Jordan to say the least. Israel's direct access to the Tiberius River, and their three very successful sanitization projects contribute a lot to this. The West bank is a different story, they rely on a quota from Israel for their water, and underground reserves as well. Even so, their farming capacity and water availability still outstrip Jordan's.
After witnessing and learning about Jordan's neighbors, I've decided to look more at the relationship between Jordan and Israel over the water within the region. With this in mind, my most important source will be the peace treaty between the two nations. After a first glance, the treaty calls for an annual tribute of 50 cubic meters of water to be given to Jordan from Israel's supplies. However, many of my sources have told me that in times of stress between the two nations Israel has been known to give Jordan 50 cubic meters of sewage water, as the treaty does no specify the quality of the water or its source. Aspects like these are worth looking into, and I will explore them further as my research develops.
With my question in mind, I will spend the next month visiting popular water and development sites while I continue to work with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation while I intern with the USAID. My internship is my best door to find potential and valuable sources for the research, and I've already lined up some great interviews. This saturday I will be visiting the Northern Border facilities for a water conference, which I'm hoping will shed some valuable light on the subject.
For now, my main question are as followed:
What is the future of the water treaty between the two nations? How will water politics influence the future of Israeli and Jordanian relations? and lastly, can Israel be a key player in heling Jordan overcome it's water scarcity issues?