ABSTRACT
In arid areas, water scarcity has traditionally restricted development; sustainable development relies on adequate, reliable and lasting supplies of fresh water. In 1992, the Jordan Badia Research and Development Programme (BRDP) was established to promote
‘the sustainable development of the desertified Badia environment and the improvement of the standard of living of the inhabitants... under management systems which conserve the natural resources so that production levels will be sustainable in the long term.’ (RGS 1992, HCST 1993)
Despite the apparently unfavourable geology and climate, the pilot area has substantial groundwater resources and regular winter flows in the wadis, originating from Jabal alArab in Syria. But the Badia programme area forms part of the Azraq basin, as illustrated by Figure 1, and the water issues cannot be considered in isolation from the overall basin resources; in particular the environmental deterioration at Azraq oasis and the adjoining wetlands, which are suffering from a reduction in spring flows (GEF 1993; Jones 1990). On the basin scale, groundwater is over-abstracted, with large-scale pumping for public water supply to Amman, Zarqa and Mafraq. This desert area is therefore an exporter of water to the wetter but more densely populated parts of Jordan. The local population relies on groundwater for domestic supplies, livestock and irrigation. The dilemma for the Badia programme and others working in the area is to provide sufficient water for local needs, without aggravating the problems of over-abstraction and increasing derogation at Azraq, which lies downstream of the programme area.
