Kingdom's 15 major dams at 35% capacity — Water Ministry

AMMAN — The Kingdom's 15 major dams now hold 35 per cent of their total storage capacity of 336.4 million cubic metres (mcm), Water Ministry officials said on Friday.

The recent rainfall channelled over 6mcm of water into the country’s major dams, with storage at the dams reaching 117mcm, Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abul Saud said on Friday in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

King Talal Dam received the bulk of the inflow at 3.5mcm.

Wihdeh Dam in Maan received 500,000 cubic metres (cm), Waleh Dam in Madaba 470,000cm, and Mujib Dam 350,000cm, while 220,000cm entered Kafrin Dam and 200,000cm went to Wadi Al Arab Dam and 110,000cm to Zarqa-Maeen Dam, according to the ministry.

The minister said the last precipitation raised the overall rain that the country received since the start of the wet season to 60 per cent of Jordan’s long-term annual average rainfall of 8.1 billion cm.

The ministry’s figures showed that the southern region and badia, particularly Maan Governorate, witnessed the highest precipitation, receiving 135mcm of rain during the recent cold spell.

Mafraq Governorate received 118mcm, while Aqaba and Tafileh witnessed 38.5mcm and 24.6mcm, respectively. Amman saw 97mcm, the source added.