Zarqa River Basin Restoration and Economic Development Project

Zarqa River Basin Restoration and Economic Development Project

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Embassy of Spain

In Jordan

Technical Cooperation Office-Amman

Zarqa River Basin Description

• Area: 3,900 Km2, c.a.• Annual rainfall: 300 mm/year • Annual stream flow: about 63

MCM• Zarqa River is perennial, with:

– summer monthly flows of 2 to 3 MCM;

– winter monthly flows of 5 to >8 MCM

MCM Million Cubic Meter

River Flow

• Abstraction for water supply from aquifers in the upper Amman-Zarqa groundwater basin has reduced the natural base flow of the Zarqa River, which was negatively reflected on the flow quantity of the river.

River Flow

The flow characteristics have been further modified by discharging treated domestic and industrial wastewater to the river.

This wastewater constitutes

nearly all of summer flow, substantially degrading the water quality.

Three main problems are associated with Zarqa River:

1- Decrease of natural flow.2- Pollution by disposing industrial

wastewater and solid wastes.

3- Pollution by partially-treated

domestic wastewater.

Socio-Economic Aspects

• Length of river watercourse is 70 Km, passing through 4 governorates.

• 65% of Jordan’s total population and more than 90% of the small medium industries are concentrated in the river basin area.

• About 10,000 donums (i.e. 2380 H) are used for agriculture in the watershed.

The Environmental Condition in Zarqa Basin

Environmental components that are at risk in the Amman-Zarqa Basin include:

• High air pollution due to the surrounding industrial areas (such as thermal power plants, the oil refinery, industrial stack emissions).

• Over-pumping of groundwater for agricultural and industrial uses as well as drinking.

• Surface and groundwater resources pollution caused by wastewater from partially operated treatment plants.

Environmental Increasing Risks

• Solid waste management constitutes a big challenge in a heavily populated and industrialized region.

• Poverty and degraded livelihood conditions aggravated the negative environmental impacts.

Zarqa River Basin Restoration Project

Long-Term Goal:

• Restoration of the river basin• Economic development

Purpose:• Test and demonstrate a

systemic and participatory approach for planning, development and management of the watershed/river basin at the intermediate and local levels

good analysis and planning, leading to more effective and economically sound water resources management and improving rural livelihoods, environmental and water security.

promoting increased participation and representation of stakeholders (mainly end-users) in the planning and decision making processes.

through

by

Constraintsto Improved Water Management

• Unclear governance of the water basin, manifested in difficulties in the enforcement of water legislations and policies.

• Absence of inter-stakeholder agreement.

• Limited knowledge on socio-economic consequences.

Lack of:

• Information on water and environmental flows in the basin(interaction of groundwater with surface water, etc).

• Awareness on water conservation and management.

• Experience / knowledge in systematic approaches relevant to water resources management.

Project Beneficiaries

Locally

Intermediate

To the top

Best practice for

Communities within the river basin, farmers, CBOs, industries

Industries and local-level government institutions

National-level government institutions

Other river basins in other areas or in the region

Physical Problems Tree for ZRRPhysical Problem Tree for ZRB

Areas not covered by collection

Obsolete industrial processes

Insufficient/ expected WW collection and treatment

Sewerage in the river bed

Urban development Un proper irrigation (surface) & crop choice

Un proper domestic use (drinking with toilet)

Excessive Abstraction of water Wild disposal of liquid and solid waste

High pollution Load

Modification GW Morphology (works)

Poor water quality

Reduction of natural flow Water retained in

Syria

Ecosystem in bad condition

Poor Biota, Flora, fauna, vegetation and biodiversity

Inadequate Water regime

Health risk (water service pollution) Hydraulic risk

Water supply (because ground water depletion)

Loss of recreation & landscape Loss of estate value

• GW safely yield = 87.5 MCM/yr - 80.1 for domestic

• Actual use = 149.8 - 6.9 for industrial• Over use = 62.3 MCM/yr - 62.9 for agricultural

CapacityBuilding

5

Institutional Governance

Consolidation Process

4

PWPC+ DST3

3 or 4 Pilot Sites for Testing

Approach2

Pilot Projects “on the ground”

7Technical Studies on

Selected

Information6

Planning+

SDCA +

Long Term Strategy Development

1

Long-Term Strategic Plan for Zarqa River Restoration & Management

Project Components

• Increasing the influence of stakeholders on the planning and decision-making processes for water resources management.

• Water resources, environmental and socio-economic assessments.

• Development and endorsement of a master plan for the watershed/river restoration.

• Development of system analysis tools (PMC + IWMIS) to support restoration master plans.

• Development and implementation of different pilot projects to test solutions for river basin restoration.

• Empowerment of local communities, private sector, NGOs and government

agencies.

• Documenting the learning process and sharing information and knowledge at

local, regional and national levels.

EXPECTED RESULTS

1. An effective “River Contract”, i.e the organizational structure and operational tools for Zarqa River Basin master plan implementation.

2. Empowering stakeholders GOs, NGOs, private sector, CBOs and end-users in the water resources planning and management processes.

3. Enabling the implementation of similar activities in other areas of the country and the region.

4. Developing the economic and social elements in the river basin due to the improved environment.

Progress to Date

• Institutional Arrangements:

– Forming a steering committee at the national level to ensure participation and influence the national-level decision makers.

– Conducting an institutional review of the organizational structure of the Ministry of Environment and Zarqa River Basin Rehabilitation Unit in order to come up with the best options for establishing the unit and its sustainable institutional linkages within the Ministry of Environment and with other line ministries and agencies.

– Establishing a specialized institutional unit for the restoration of Zarqa River Basin as part of the Ministry of Environment’s institutional structure to ensure sustainability of the project.

• Stakeholders Dialogue (Multi-Stakeholder Platforms):

– Stakeholders dialogue was facilitated and an effective communication system between all stakeholders at different levels was established.

– Three local water management committees were established at pilots sites level.– The local committees including end-users were empowered to increase water

users participation in decision making.

Progress to Date Cont..

• Capacity Building:

Conducting Rapid Rural Appraisal for Zarqa river to select three or four pilot sites whose implementation is designed to test technical interventions based on stakeholders’ priorities.

Conducting training needs assessment for the relevant stakeholders and for Zarqa River Basin Rehabilitation Unit (ZRRU).

Based on training needs assessments results, three key documents in river restoration authored by IUCN (Flow , Pay and Ecosystem Approach) were translated to Arabic in order to build the capacity of the relevant stakeholders on river rehabilitation.

– Conducting training workshops, public awareness campaigns and dialogue sessions, targeting the stakeholders on several issues concerning water governance such as PRA, water resources assessments, scenario building, water strategic planning....etc .

– Reviewing and assessing the environmental legislations/laws, and introducing amendments and recommendations for better enforcement.

– Conducting several training workshops on Env. Laws targeted legal advisors of different ministries ,lawyers ,Municipalities representatives…etc, in cooperation with Jordanian Lawyers Bar and IUCN law commission .

– Defining the list of criteria in different aspects (socio-economic, environmental and economic) in order to be quantified then used for multi- criteria analysis (MCA).

Progress to Date Cont

Practical Learning

– Four pilot sites, selected upon specific criteria, were developed by the national steering committee as follows :

• Russeifeh Site (upstream).• Al Zarqa Site (upstream).• Al Balqa Site (downstream).

– In-depth social and water information were collected by local stakeholders to increase their involvement.

– Local River Rehabilitation Strategic Plans were developed for the pilot sites in a participatory way.

- Three pilot projects were identified by the relevant stakeholders and will be implemented in selected pilot sites, aiming to: • Reduce pollution load dumped .• Improve the environmental situation.• Green the area (making eco-learning parks).• Community development • Promote effective governance.• Demonstrate how an effective planning and management relationship can

be developed and sustained between a local community, CBOs, private sector and respective government departments for the purpose of improving water resources management and river rehabilitation.

- Two schools were selected within the Zarqa River Basin and two small pilot project on water management were implemented to increase students’ participation in the river rehabilitation and water management.

Lessons Learned

• Jordan Government’s commitment to adopt the policy and institutional and relevant regulatory measures are necessary to implement and sustain the river rehabilitation.

• The availability and exchange of information between relevant stakeholders are a core factor for better water governance.

• Reversing years long of river pollution is possible through concerted coordination between the line ministries and local communities.

• Community empowerment is a core factor for real participation in the river rehabilitation process.

• Schools are focal points for technical knowledge and awareness raising of local communities.

• Water issues became the main concern of the local communities due to scarce water and increasing demand.