Water Scarcity in the Jordan River Basin

Document Type

Article

Authors

Matthew Cook, University of Minnesota, MorrisFollow

Abstract

The watershed of the Jordan River stretches over four countries – Jordan, Syria, Israel, and Lebanon – and includes the region of Palestine. With the land and its resources hotly contested by all parties involved, the dwindling supply of drinking and irrigation water from viable sources has led to scrambling exploitation, leaving the river and its connected lakes in an ever-worsening state of deterioration. Increased suspended solids, presence of toxin-producing cyanobacteria, and accelerated evapotranspiration have led to a slower, shallower, murkier, and lower health quality trickle taking the place of the once-revered River Jordan (Comair et al., “Watershed Delineation” 4285; Hadas et al., 1221-1224). As the number of refugees grows daily (Schwartzstein, 2014), the depleted water resources of the watershed will come under yet more pressure to support higher demand. There is a critical need for investigation into what options exist politically, logistically, and economically to the threats to this suffering basin.

Recommended Citation

Cook, Matthew (2014) "Water Scarcity in the Jordan River Basin," Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 14.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.61366/2576-2176.1018
Available at: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/horizons/vol1/iss2/14

Primo Type

Article