Connecting households to sewerage in northern Jordan
Connecting households to sewerage in northern Jordan
Source : EBRD
19-Nov-2018
With EU and GCFF support, the EBRD helps provide sanitation services for West Irbid
Our journey to Jordan’s
West Irbid, a municipality whose households, schools and businesses have
never been connected to sewerage, starts where it should end: at the
Wadi Arab Wastewater Plant.
You might imagine it as looking unpleasant and smelling even worse.
But, the day’s heat notwithstanding, the plant is neither ugly nor
particularly pungent.
The facility is artfully hidden in a valley, for discretion’s sake and
reasons of engineering expediency. The unmistakable hue of some tanks
gradually shifts to a more reassuring green. The last basin seems to
contain water which is perfectly clear. So what does actually happen
here? And why, without this facility, would life in nearby villages be
at risk?
As Mohannad AlDa`ameh, the plant’s engineer, explains, cleaning
wastewater is complex but can be reduced to five steps: preliminary
sedimentation; biological treatment; secondary sedimentation; advanced
filtering with sand; and purification.
This last is the most incredible as it is performed without chemicals.
The water is treated with ultraviolet radiation which enters the
resistant strains of bacteria and destroys their DNA. As if by magic the
water is clean again and will not contaminate the environment.
Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ)
plans to upgrade the plant’s system so that all wastewater received
there will be clean enough to be re-used for agriculture. This is
particularly important in a country such as Jordan, which tops the lists
of the world’s driest countries.
The EBRD, the Global Concessional Finance Facility (GCFF) and the European Union
(EU), through its Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian Crisis,
the Madad Fund, are contributing to a WAJ parallel investment.
It will finance the sewerage system for 15 villages in the western part
of the Irbid municipality and, at long last, will connect all buildings
to the Wadi Arab Wastewater Plant.
The EBRD is providing a loan of €25 million for the project. To make it
affordable, the EU is making available €20 million in grants, together
with €2.5 million from the World Bank’s Global Concessional Finance Facility and €5.9 million more grants from the Bank’s net income allocation.
To understand how crucial this project is for the 105,000 people living
in the area, one should visit Kufrioba. It is one of the largest
settlements in West Irbid, with an area of 11.55 km2 and a population of 30,000. It is also more densely populated than Jordan’s capital Amman.
“This high population density, which has been increasing in the past
seven years with the arrival of Syrian refugees, has led to the
construction of more and more buildings and more unsanitary cesspits,”
said Rania Majdalawi, a representative from the local municipality.
The problems with cesspits are dire and, tragically, include fatalities
caused by falling into uncovered ones or their walls’ collapse.
Manholes are often missing or replaced with improvised techniques.
The open tanks used to collect wastewater in many gardens are prone to
flooding. Some of them have such limited capacity that they should be
emptied once a month, an operation which costs an average of JOD 40
(about €50), with significant impact on households’ finances.
The municipality imposes fines but it is difficult to keep up with the
new buildings so some cesspits are emptied only after they overflow.
Many residents therefore choose to discharge part of their used water
(not from the toilets) directly in the streets, as if it were surface
water.
Having to deal with the lack of infrastructure has sharpened locals’
wits: they plant fig trees in their gardens, for example, for their
capacity of absorbing excess water from the ground.
Ms Majdalawi continues the list of grievances: “You cannot imagine the
problem with flies in the summer or with floodings during the winter,
when rain and wastewater mix in the streets. People can’t wait for a
well-designed and structured sewerage system.”
“As partners with Jordan in developing the water sector, we believe
that it is important to continue investing in new projects that increase
the water supply, such as the Wadi Arab II,” said the EU Ambassador to
Jordan, Andrea Fontana.
“Yet it is equally important to upgrade and maintain the water and
wastewater networks – as for the case of the project implemented by the
EBRD – in order to avoid water leakages. This country cannot afford any
water losses.”
The EBRD’s infrastructure investments are part of a larger programme to
ensure that, by the end of 2022, everyone from the local community will
be able to walk on clean, paved streets and enjoy their gardens while,
below ground, new sewerage will discreetly and efficiently take care of
wastewater.