Jordan nixes Red-Dead water project with Israel
Jordan has decided not to pursue a revival of the highly publicized desalination water project dubbed the “Red-Dead” that had long been considered a symbol of cooperation between the Hashemite Kingdom, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, KAN News reported.
The Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Regional Cooperation
have not received any formal notification of Jordan’s decision.
The project, initiated in 2002, has long been frozen and professionals have expressed concern about environmental issues and the cost effectiveness of the project compared to other alternatives.
According to the Israeli NGO EcoPeace, the initial project would have piped two billion cu.m. of water from Aqaba to a desalination plant near the Dead Sea. The 800 million cm. of water that would have been produced would have been sent back to Jordan while the salty residue would have been piped into the Dead Sea to stabilize it and restore its shrinking shore line, according to EcoPeace. The link between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea led to the project’s nickname.
Later versions of the project also scaled down the enterprise and placed a desalinization plant near Aqaba, with the salty residue piped to the Dead Sea. The project also included water sales to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, according to EcoPeace.
According to KAN, Jordan is now expected to move forward with a smaller desalination project within the kingdom without any partnerships with Israel or the Palestinian Authority.
Jordan suffers from severe water shortages that have helped fuel some of the instability and frustration with the Hashemite monarchy.
Among the criticism leveled against former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was his failure to enlist Israel’s water technology to help stabilize Jordan and improve relations between the two counties. Jordan-Israel ties frayed under Netanyahu.
The 1994 peace treaty with Jordan mandates that Israel provide Jordan with 55 million cm. of water annually at 3 cents per cm. In 2010, the allocation was increased by 10 million cm. at 40 cents per cm. This year, it agreed to provide Jordan with an additional 3 million cm. at the same 40 cents price.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid spoke of Jordan’s importance to Israel when he took up his post on Monday.
“I would like to add something in light of recent reports: Jordan is an important strategic ally for Israel,” Lapid said. “King Abdullah is an important regional leader and a strategic ally. We will work with him and strengthen the relationship between our two countries.”