Water situation in syria: report
Syria, Economics, 4/27/2005

Syria's Minister of Irrigation Nader al-Bunni on Tuesday said Syria faces water shortage that ranges between 3 to 4 billions cubic meters ( bcm ) annually, but if "the country makes use of our share in the Euphrates River and other coastal rivers, we will indemnify that decrease."

"The decrease is not in the surface water, but it is in the underground water as a result of digging wells at random by farmers ... as Syria has converted to the modern irrigation since the year 2000," al-Bunni told SANA in an interview.

He added that Syria needs 19 bcm annually, noting that 89% of this average is used for irrigation, and the other quantity is used for drinking, industry and tourism.

"Syria's position within the arid and arid-dry areas makes its water resources limited. So Syria depends on the international rivers and rain which average range from 250 to 400 mm annually," the minister of irrigation said.

He added that about 1 million and 200 thousands wells are being used for free irrigation, and about 7 bcm to 10 bcm of underground water is consumed annually.

"If we accomplish the project of modern irrigation, we will spare about 40% of the consumed water ... thus we can stop depletion of underground water," he said.

The minister referred to the possibility of making use of 70% of the sewage water after treating it to irrigate plants, and that his ministry added those plans to the water strategy by an agreement with the Ministry of Local Administration.

He described the quantities of water during the current season as very good compared with the quantities of the last year regarding rain and dams supplies.

"The average of dams fullness is 85%, and the number of dams in Syria reached by 159 in addition to 8 dams under construction, and the total volume of water inside those dams is about 19 bcm," al-Bunni added.

He pointed out to several joint projects with each of Lebanon and Jordan where Syria has great shares in both of them.

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