TITLE:
Water Resources and Water Services Infrastructure and Its Vulnerability to Extreme Events—The Case of Jordan
AUTHORS:
Elias Salameh
KEYWORDS:
Jordan, Critical Infrastructure, Extreme Events, Cascading Effects, Robustness Needs
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.11 No.2,
February
23,
2023
ABSTRACT: This study discussed the water sector as a critical
infrastructural element in Jordan where the sector is exposed to the extreme
events. The exposure of the country to extreme events has initiated this study.
Such events are Pollution accidents,
flooding, draughts, overexploitation, failure in electricity supply,
climate changes, earthquakes, landslides, failure of dams, failure of
wastewater treatment plants, failure of desalination plants, sabotage, fire,
water theft, migration and demographic changes (immigration and urban
migration), relations to neighboring countries, epidemics, and others. These
extreme events are discussed in this article and the results show that failures
in the water infrastructure and water supply, in Jordan, with its water sector situation
have rigorous percussions on the country’s health, food supply, economy,
societal stability, the built environment, and on other water-related issues.
The study concludes that developing national programs to protect the water
infrastructure in the water-fragile country has become very crucial to reach a
robust and resilient water sector which not only means providing the
inhabitants with quantitatively sufficient and qualitatively healthy water but
also aims to incorporate guaranteeing social, economic and political stability.