DISI WATER PROJECT CONTINUES TO ENCOUNTER POTENTIAL

UNCLAS AMMAN 001027 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, EEB, AND OES STATE PASS TO USAID STATE PASS TO OPIC CAIRO FOR VIALA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EAGR PGOV PREL IS SA JO SUBJECT: DISI WATER PROJECT CONTINUES TO ENCOUNTER POTENTIAL OBSTACLES REF: A. Amman 508 ¶B. 08 Amman 3011 (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION ¶1. (SBU) The Disi water conveyance, one of Jordan's largest infrastructure projects with a $800 million budget, proposes to convey 100 million cubic meters (MCM) per year from the Disi fossil aquifer on the Jordanian-Saudi Arabia border to Amman. Recent test results indicate that Disi aquifer water, however, has higher than average radioactivity levels, although the Ministry of Water and Irrigation consistently asserts that it has the capability to test for radioactivity and that Jordan's drinking water supply is safe. The testing and publication of results were made possible through a USAID Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) grant to Jordanian, Israeli, and U.S. academic institutions for a quality study on the radioactivity of water from seven wells in southern Jordan. The full report, "High Naturally Occurring Radioactivity in Fossil Groundwater from the Middle East," is available at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es802969r . ¶2. (SBU) The water quality report generated some controversy at the time of publication, but has not adversely affected the project. Financing challenges, however, are attracting increasingly more attention. GAMA, the Turkish company partially owned by General Electric and awarded the project in 2008, has been grappling with financing issues. Additionally, recent press reports indicate that the European Investment Bank might be reevaluating its financing commitment given reports of radioactivity as well as concerns about Saudi Arabian concurrence to use the shared aquifer. (Note: Saudi Arabia has long been using the aquifer for agriculture and mining purposes. End Note.) Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab Al-Yawm noted that participants in an April 26 meeting held in Paris for the Disi project's financial closure have decided to wait until the government clarifies a number of pending issues about the project, most prominent of which is the "radioactive pollution" of the Disi water. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman BEECROFT