The Hydrogeological Consequences of the Proposed Extraction of the Deep Groundwater in Jordan

Abstract

Many officials and planners in Jordan have advocated in the last decade extracting the deep brackish, thermal, and salty groundwater resources, desalinate them, and use them for household water supplies. Generally, such groundwater is non-renewable and is found in aquifers underlying fresh renewable groundwater bodies building the base support for them. The deep groundwater feeds the thermal mineralized springs issuing along the eastern escarpment of the Dead Sea-Jordan Rift Valley used for therapeutic purposes. In this article, the geologic set-up of the aquifer series underlying the different parts of the country is outlined to illustrate that all such aquifers extending from ground surface to the impermeable granitic Basement Complex are, in the majority of areas, directly or indirectly interconnected and that extractions from any aquifer, shallow or deep, are effectively taken from the same stock of the groundwater body. Hence, it is concluded that advocating the extraction of the deep salty or brackish groundwater is quasi extracting the same amount of groundwater from the overlying, shallower fresh water aquifers. The deep groundwater issues along the eastern escarpment of the Jordan Rift Valley and is used in household supplies, in irrigation and in spas as curative agent. In addition, the intended use of the deep groundwater to be extracted according to the suggested policy in household supplies requiring desalination, which is a costly unnecessary process accompanied with rigorous environmental ramifications of disposing off the desalination brines.