Water conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) primarily deals with three major river basins: the Jordan River Basin, the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin, and the Nile River Basin. The MENA region covers roughly 11.1 million square km. There are three major deserts in the MENA region: The Sahara Desert, comprising large sections of North Africa. Rub' al Khali, in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Badiat El-Sham, in the northern Arabian Peninsula. Additionally, much of Iran is covered in desert. Average annual rainfall is less than 100 mm in 65% of the region, between 100 and 300 mm in 15% of the region, and more than 300mm in the remaining region. The conditions that create conflict are only expected to get worse and more complicated, as the full impacts of climate change on the Middle East and North Africa develop over the course of the 21st century.
Jordan River Basin
Water resources
The three headwaters of the Jordan River – the Hasbani River (annual stable flow of 250 Mm3), the Banias River (annual stable flow of 125 Mm3), and the Dan River (annual stable flow of 250 Mm3) originate in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, respectively. They merge in Lake Huleh and then flow south as the Jordan River. Just south of Tiberias, the Yarmuk River joins the Jordan River. In total, the Jordan River flows for roughly 350 km, starting in the foothills of Mount Hermon in the north and ending in the Dead Sea to the south. The River has an estimated flow of 1880 MCM/Y, 73 percent of which originates in Arab countries and 27 percent of which originates in Israel. According to a September 2000 USAF study, over 90% of Syria’s water is shared with neighboring Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan. Approximately 36 percent of Jordan’s water sources are shared with Syria, the West Bank, and Israel, and more than half of Israel’s waters is shared with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the West Bank.
Further north, the Litani River and Orontes River comprise the northern Levant watershed. Although their headwaters are geographically close, the Litani flows south then west to the Mediterranean near Tyre, crossing through Lebanon alone, while the Orontes flows north into Syria, entering the Mediterranean around the city of Antioch. The Litani's estimated annual flow of 410 MCM/Y has been the target of proposed Syrian, Jordanian, and Israeli water solutions.
Syria, Lebanon, and Israel all have indigenous underground freshwater aquifers. There are two main underground aquifers that provide fresh water to modern-day Israel. The Mountain Aquifer is underneath the West Bank. It recharges 679 Mm3 of water annually, of which 78 Mm3 are brackish. The Mountain Aquifer’s three main basins are the Eastern Basin, the Western Basin, and the Northeastern Basin. The Eastern Basin is the smallest in terms of freshwater quantities but the largest in terms of area. It covers roughly 3260 km^2. The Western Basin is the largest of the three in terms of freshwater content. It covers roughly 1780 km2. Finally, the Northeastern Basin has an area of roughly 610 km2. The Coastal Aquifer located along the Mediterranean Coast has a total annual recharge of 330 Mm3.
The area around the Jordan River Basin is one of the driest in the world. Israel and northwestern Jordan receive an average of 1190 cm of rainfall per year. Little of this water can be exploited. Only Kuwait, Libya, Oman, and Singapore receive less rain annually than Jordan or Israel. Syria and Lebanon, in contrast, receive enough rainfall to support agriculture and recharge underground aquifers. As stated earlier, while northern parts of Jordan and Israel receive 110 cm of annual rainfall, central Jordan and the West Bank receive 20 mcm/y. Only 3 mcm/y of this water is usable, however.
Water consumption Israel uses roughly 850 MCM/Y of groundwater, 400 MCM/Y of which come from the Mountain Aquifer. In 1964, Israel began to withdraw 320 MCM/Y from the Jordan River for the National Water Carrier. By 1967, Israel’s National Water Carrier was extracting almost 70 percent of the Jordan River before it reached the Palestinians in the West Bank. In the 1980s, Israeli settlers consumed seven times more water than Arab farmers. Other sources show a smaller, yet still sizeable difference. Per a September 2000 study, Israel uses 1180 MCM/Y, or 62 percent of its total annual water supply on agriculture. In comparison, Jordan uses 67 MCM/Y, or 74 percent of its total water supply on agriculture. Roughly 48 percent of Israel’s average annual water usage of 1,950 MCM/Y comes from territory captured in 1967. 400 MCM/Y of this comes from ground water in the West Bank, while 450 MCM/Y comes from the upper Jordan River and the Golan Heights. As early as 1981, however, Israel was exploiting 99 percent of its available water resources.
Water Supply Systems
British Mandate Period (1917–1948) At the time of the British Mandate of Palestine (1913–1948), three irrigation systems existed along the eastern slopes of the Judaean Mountains. The Wadi Qelt aqueduct provided 3 MCM/Y of fresh water to Jericho from the Ein Fara, Ein Fawar, and Ein Qelt springs. Additionally, the Wadi Uja aqueduct supplied the Uja Valley with 7 MCM/Y of fresh water from the Ein Uja spring and the Wadi Faria aqueduct transported 5 MCM/Y of water from the Ein Shibli, Ein Isca, and Ein Baidan springs to the Giftlik. Under Roman rule, the Nablus and Jerusalem aqueducts were also active in the Judea and Samaria Mountains. These aqueducts brought a combined additional 3 MCM/Y to Sabastia and Jerusalem. During the Mandate, another 200 small groundwater springs were used and rainwater was collected from cisterns, yielding an additional 5 MCM/Y of fresh water during rainy years. With the addition of two electric power plants supplying an addition 2 MCM/Y to Jerusalem and Ramallah, the maximum water capacity in the Judea and Samaria Mountains was 25 MCM/Y.
Several plans attempted to allocate the water resources of the region during the British Mandate. The Ionides Plan of 1939 made three recommendations. First, it proposed to store the floodwaters of the Yarmouk River in Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilea). Second, it set and amount of the water in the lake to be diverted through the East Ghor Canal and used for irrigation east of the Jordan River. Third, it limited the use of Jordan River Basin water to the Jordan River Valley. This was rejected by Zionist advocates who envisioned using waters from the Jordan River Basin to settle the Negev Desert in the south of the country. In contrast, the Lowdermilk Plan, commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture, proposed irrigating the Jordan River Valley and diverting the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers for hydroelectric power. In 1948, James B. Hays used the findings in Lowdermilk as a basis for the Hays Plan in which the Yarmouk River was to be diverted into Lake Tiberias to compensate for the waters lost in the diversion of the Jordan River for agricultural purposes.
Jordanian Rule (1948–1967) In 1948 Israel officially became a state. The Kingdom of Jordan assumed control of the water resources of the Judea and Samaria Mountains. They retained control over the region until the Six-Day War in 1967. Additional wells drilled during this period and the maximum water supply in the region reached 66 MCM/Y. Only four of 708 Palestinian towns, however, were connected to the water supply at the time. In 1965 an additional 350 wells were drilled, supplying a total of 41 MCM/Y. In the 1947–1949 Palestine war ( the Jewish Army destroyed the Rutenburg electric plant in trying to prevent the exclusive Arab control of both the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers. As a direct result the Jordanian Government and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency commission the MacDonald Plan, which resembled the Ionides Plan (1939) in limiting the waters of the Jordan River Basin to the Jordan River Valley. It also called for a diversion of the Yarmouk River for storage in Lake Tiberias to be used to support agricultural developments on both sides of the Jordan River. Jordan and Syria backed the Bunger Plan, which proposed a dam of the Yarmouk River and the creation of two hydroelectric power plants to supply electricity to Jordan and Syria. In 1953, shortly after construction had started, increased pressure from the U.S. forced Jordan and Syria to abandon their plans. The Eisenhower Administration sent Eric Johnston as a special envoy. The Johnston Plan implemented the policies of a Tennessee Valley Authority study conducted by Chales Main – the Main Plan – that included water distribution quotas of the Jordan River Basin. Although neither side accepted the plan, it has been used as the basis for many subsequent water conflict negotiations.
Israeli Administration (1967–present)
When Israel occupied the West Bank in the Six-Day-War 1967, the water resources of the region were declared as state property. The occupation has huge impacts on the daily lives of the Palestinian people and their water supply: In many aspects the occupation implicates breaches of international law, such as the international human rights law or the international humanitarian law. Especially the land confiscations and property demolitions by the Israeli military as well as the restrictions on the movement of people and goods are criticized. Since 1967, most water sources are controlled by the Israeli military. Moreover, water resources are diverted and the Palestinian population is denied access to most water resources. In the same time, Israel claims that the Palestinians drill unauthorized wells. Large parts of the Palestinian water infrastructure, including cisterns, wells, and irrigation systems, are declared as illegal and systematically demolished. As the development of new Palestinian water infrastructures is mostly prohibited, the Palestinian water supply systems are in a very poor condition. In that way, they are reflecting the weak and ambiguous political status of Palestine. As most people in the West Bank depend on agriculture, the Palestinian water deficit is also weakening the local economy. Thereby it is strongly contributing to poverty and unemployment. The unbalanced water allocation in the Palestinian territories shaped the term of "water apartheid".
Even though it is difficult to get accurate data, the average Israeli water consumption in the West Bank is about 6 times higher than the average Palestinian water consumption of approximately 50 liters/person/day, what is about the half of the World Health Organization minimum recommended level. However, there are other data showing a different picture. By excluding treated sewage and desalinated water and using a different type of demographic data, Gvirtzman (2012) for instance argues that the average Israeli and the average Palestinian water consumption is nowadays almost the same. The huge differences in the Israeli and Palestinian water data illustrate how contested and urgent the question of water allocation still is.