Amman- 3 January 2022
The School of Natural Resources Engineering and Management (SNREM) organized a public lecture titled “A fresh look at Jordan's most precious resource; water” on December 22, 2021. The lecture aimed at exploring some of the advances in water resources research at GJU.
The Director of the Center for the Study of Natural and Cultural Heritage (CSNACH), Professor Nizar Abu-Jaber began the lecture with an overview of what we know about the water resources of Jordan, highlighting the insufficiencies in much of the data regarding rainfall, recharge, runoff and evaporation in Jordan.
Professor Abu-Jaber then presented some new research on the deep aquifer of Jordan and some of the geochemical and hydrological limitations on the extraction of the waters from these aquifers. This was against a backdrop of a wider discussion in Jordan on the potential of these aquifers as a strategic resource.
Moreover, the Dean of SNREM, Dr. Qasem Abdelal, followed with a presentation on new research and equipment being developed and deployed by GJU in Madaba and Petra areas. This equipment is intended to be low-cost and easily deployable, enabling watershed-scale monitoring of the hydrology of the studied areas.
The lecture was followed by a lively discussion on water resources in the country and what can be done to overcome this challenge.