Authorities to suspend water supply to households with leaky roof tanks

AMMAN — The Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) and its affiliate companies will suspend water supply to households whose roof tanks leak, government officials said on Tuesday.

Water directorates and companies across the country are obliged to enforce the new law, which stipulates strict penalties against those who waste, abuse or pollute water or any elements of the water system, Water Minister Hazem Nasser said.

“Wasting water in a water-impoverished country is a crime by itself; it is an act punished by the law, especially if we realise that the country’s water security is jeopardised if we don’t preserve every drop of water,” Nasser said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

On Tuesday morning, the minister instructed the Fuheis water directorate to suspend supply to a household in the town, after he saw large amounts of water leaking from its rooftop, according to a source at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. “Water supply to the consumer was suspended and the directorate’s officials calculated the amount of wasted water. The case was referred for legal action and the consumer will be fined,” the official told The Jordan Times.

He highlighted that water supply to scores of households and properties is being suspended weekly due to the leakage of thousands of cubic metres of “precious water”.

Official figures indicate that over 350,000 cubic metres of water is being lost daily in the capital, where water loss is 33 per cent, due to violations on water resources and networks. 

Nasser underscored that the government pays JD1.70 for every metre of water pumped to consumers, calling on the public to protect the resource, which he described as an expensive commodity in Jordan, both in terms of the environment and the economy.