Jordan River Water Pollution

The upper jordan river lake tiberias lake kinneret the yarmouk river and the lower jordan river.

Jordan river water pollution. The pollution of the river is largely a result of raw sewage coming from israeli palestinian and jordanian sources plus agricultural run off largely pesticides and fertilisers and. Many years ago the jordan was massive clean and full of fish. But after a long struggle environmental groups have finally broken through and are working with israel jordan and the palestinian authority to reinvigorate the river. The jordan river conflict otherwise known as the war over water is an example of transboundary conflict between israel jordan lebanon and palestine.

For example and as discussed in water resources the flow of the jordan river is constantly decreasing because of upstream abstractions. The longest of those is the ḥāṣbānī which rises in lebanon near ḥāṣbayyā at an elevation of 1 800 feet 550 metres. River pollution in 1964 israel began operating a pumping station that diverts water from the sea of galilee to the national water carrier. At the same time jordan built a wide channel to harness water from the yarmouk river one of the jordan s main tributaries.

Sadly the lower jordan river has long suffered from severe mismanagement with the diversion of 98 percent of its fresh water by israel syria and jordan and the discharge of untreated sewage. However after israel built the national water carrier in 1953 and diverted water from lake tiberias to israel s coastal plains and southern desert the flow of the lower jordan river dropped significantly. From the east in syria flows the bāniyās river. As mentioned above water quality in the lower jordan river and the zarqa rivers has severely deteriorated over the last 50 years and the water from these rivers is no longer fit for human consumption.

For jordan in particular the diversion of the waters of the country. This water conflict begun in 1953 as a result of poor water politics and management between nation states and negotiations are ongoing. The drastic infrastructural interventions along the river which have fundamentally altered water flow water quality and local ecosystems are schematically. Now it is a small polluted river that is known mostly as a baptism site for christian tourists writes amir ben david.

The jordan river has three principal sources all of which rise at the foot of mount hermon. Also in 1964 jordan constructed a channel that diverted water from the yarmouk river another main tributary of the jordan river to the east ghor canal.