Water management in Greater Damascus, a metropolitan area with more than 4 million inhabitants, is characterized by numerous challenges, including groundwater overexploitation, increasing water demand, intermittent supply, and pollution. These challenges could be exacerbated by the impact of climate change, since projections indicate that a decrease in rainfall is likely. The quality of residential water supply mirrors social divisions within the metropolitan area, with the poorest neighborhoods receiving the worst service. Irrigation in the rural parts of Greater Damascus, in particular in the Ghouta, still accounts for about 70% of water use in the metropolitan area, with the remainder being used for residential, commercial and industrial use.
The government has responded to the above challenges by banning the drilling of new agricultural wells, promoting water-saving irrigation techniques, rehabilitating the distribution network to reduce leakage, investing heavily in wastewater treatment for reuse, and experimenting with groundwater recharge. However, none of these measures has been successfully completed so far. Reallocation of water from irrigation to urban uses has also been suggested, but it has never been seriously considered by the government for political reasons, including strong traditional links of the ruling Baath Party to the Peasant's Union. Instead of forcefully promoting local solutions, the government continues to contemplate the large-scale transfer of water from Euphrates Lake on the Euphrates River through a costly mega-project.
Decision-making concerning water remains highly centralized. Ultimately the President of Syria takes all key decisions. Below him responsibility for the water sector is fragmented between different Ministries. One of them is the Ministry of Housing and Construction, which supervises the Damascus Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, the public utility for Greater Damascus. The Ministry of Irrigation also plays an important role in the sector.
Water resources
Greater Damascus is located within the Barada basin, a closed basin that covers 8,630 km2, and the neighboring Awaj basin. The Barada basin stretches over a distance of 81 km from the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the Northeast of Damascus at an altitude of more than 2,000 m with precipitation of up to 1,800 mm per year to the Ghouta oasis to the West of Damascus at an altitude of 600 m with less than 100 mm of rainfall. The smaller 70 km-long Awaj river runs South of the Barada river. Total primary water resources in the two basins, surface and groundwater, have been estimated at 452 million cubic per year. These water resources are augmented by reused wastewater and return flows from irrigation, estimated at between 500 and more than 800 million cubic metres per year, adding up to a total of 900 and almost 1300 million cubic metres per year.Elie Elhadj: The Household Water Crisis in Syria’s Greater Damascus Region, SOAS Water Research Group, Occasional Paper 47, School of Oriental and African Studies and King's College London, University of London, May 2004 Precipitation is highly seasonal and occurs primarily during winter.
The main sources of water supply for Damascus are the Fijeh and Barada springs. The Fijeh springs are a group of three large karstic springs - The Fijeh main spring, the Fijeh side spring and the Harouch spring - in the Barada gorge. The three springs used to contribute half the flow of the Barada River. The Barada spring is located North of the Fijeh springs close to the Lebanese border. The entire flow of all these springs is captured today, including through wells positioned around the springs. This is why it appears during the summer that the Barada spring has dried up, while its flow is actually being captured and transferred along the river to supply various towns in the Barada gorge as well as Damascus itself with drinking water. Water from the Barada and Fijeh springs is transferred to a mixing station near Dummar where it is being chlorinated and distributed to the city. The city’s water supply is complemented by well fields in the plains around the city. The flow of the springs is highly seasonal, lagging several months behind the precipitation because of snow melt and the karstic characteristics of the rocks from which they emerge. The flow of the Figeh springs is less than 4 m3/second during the low-flow period from July to December. However, it reaches a maximum of more than 12m3/second (average 1962-1991) in April.
The remaining winter flow of the Barada river is not used for drinking water supply in Damascus. However, it plays an important recreational role for the numerous restaurants along its upper course. It also aliments the Ghouta oasis. When it leaves the Barada gorge and enters the plain of Damascus the Barada river splits into five branches. The two Northern branches flow along the foot of the Qasium mountain towards the East. The central branches, including the Barada proper, flow through the city center alongside the old city into the heart of the Ghouta. The southernmost branch takes a turn to the West before entering the city, and flows into what is called the Western Ghouta. Historically, much of the summer base flow of these rivers derived from the Fijeh and Barada springs. However, since the springs have been captured the river carries fresh water only during the winter and spring. Downstream of Damascus, it also carries more or less diluted wastewater that is being indirectly reused for irrigation in the Ghouta. Some winter flows also end up in the intermittent Lake Al-Utaybah, the lowest point of the closed Barada basin where the water infiltrates or evaporates.
Greater Damascus had about 4.2 million inhabitants in 2007 or about 25% of the population of Syria. This includes 1.7 million in Damascus governorate itself and 2.5 million in the surrounding governorate of Damascus Rif. Most of the population of Greater Damascus lives within the Barada and Awaj basins.
Water use
Just like data on water availability, publicly available data on water use in Greater Damascus are contradictory and outdated. In 2001 water use has been estimated at between 1,350 and 1,700 million cubic metres per year. This includes water use for irrigation that was estimated at between 920 and more than 1,200 million cubic metres per year, accounting for 68% and 76% of total water use in the basin. Domestic water use was estimated at between 300 and 390 million cubic metres per year. The lower bound of this estimate is probably more realistic and is equivalent to an average of about 220 liter/capita/day before distribution losses for a population connected to the network of about 3.75 million. Taking into account non-revenue water of about 50%, this corresponds to about 110 liter/capita/day which is about as much as domestic water use in Germany. However, during summer water availability and thus water use drop significantly. For example, in the summer of 2001 the city received 317,000 cubic meter per day, corresponding to about 85 liter/capita/day before losses and 43 liter/capita/day after losses.
In 1998 the irrigated area in the two basins was estimated at 62,000 hectares. Since then, it is likely to have declined because of the loss of agricultural land to urbanization at the rate of about 1,000 hectares per year.
Responsibility for water management and water policy Decision-making in Syria is highly centralized and water management is no exception to that rule. Local government has little to no say in water management. Within the government responsibility for water is shared between the Ministry of Housing and Construction, which is in charge of water supply and sanitation, and the Ministry of Irrigation. The Ministry of Local Administration and Environment is in charge of environmental protection, but remains relatively weak. The Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform also plays a role. Ultimately all important decisions rest with the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister. Decision-making is highly politicized within the framework of general policies established by the Ba'ath Party.
According to a 2009 article by US political scientist Jessica Barnes, while water scarcity in Syria is usually presented as a result of population growth, it actually is a consequence of the ruling Ba'ath party’s promotion of water-intensive agriculture. This support for the agricultural sector is motivated in part by a desire for food self-sufficiency and growth through an expansion in irrigated agriculture. It is also linked to the rural roots of the Ba'ath party and the influential Peasants Union. Although much of the ruling class in Syria is now urban, the symbolic links between the party and the rural sector continue.Barnes, Jessica (2009): Managing the Waters of Bath Country: The Politics of Water Scarcity in Syria, Geopolitics,14:3, p. 510 — 530 This political context may explain why the government is reluctant to take drastic steps to reduce the pumping of groundwater from private wells for irrigation in the Ghouta near Damascus.
The utility in charge of water supply and sanitation in Damascus is the Damascus Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, which is under the authority of the Minister of Housing and Construction. The utility’s service area includes the governorate of Damascus and parts of the surrounding Damascus Rif (Rural Damascus) governorate. In April 2009 the Syrian Government merged the two public water utilities operating in the Greater Damascus area, the Damascus Water and Sanitation Establishment (DWSSA) that operated in the Damascus governorate and the Rural Damascus Water Establishment (R-DWSSA) that operated in the Rural Damascus Governorate, into a single utility also bearing the name DWSSA. The decision was prompted by the need to better coordinate operations in the physically integrated service area of Greater Damascus, and to speed up the implementation of projects in rural Damascus governorate that had suffered from the limited execution capacity of R-DWSSA.
In 2002 a Water Resources Information Center has been established in the Ministry of Irrigation with the assistance of JICA. It established a Geographical Information System for the Barada Awaj Basin, including data on groundwater, surface water and water quality.Water Resources Information Center, Ministry of Irrigation, Syria, WRIC Chief Advisor Noriyuki Mori, JICA, presentation at the seminar on Dutch-Syrian water cooperation, November 22, 2004
Challenges The foremost water challenge in Greater Damascus is an increasing demand-supply imbalance, coupled with groundwater overexploitation and pollution. This imbalance leads to intermittent supply and coping costs in the form of expensive sales of water by tankers. Climate change may exacerbate this imbalance. Poor neighborhoods suffer disproportionately from the area’s water problems.
Groundwater overexploitation