Saudi Arabia also extracts water from the aquifer (called the Saq aquifer in Saudi Arabia). Only a small portion of the Disi aquifer lies beneath Jordan, while the majority lies beneath Saudi Arabia. At that rate, the water in the aquifer will last a minimum of 50 years, according to the Disi Water Company. This recharge is dwarfed, however, by the current extraction rate of 90,000,000 m 3 (2.0 ×10 10 imp gal) for agricultural and domestic needs, including 15,000,000 m 3 (3.3 ×10 9 imp gal) of water that is supplied to Aqaba, Jordan. In fact, the aquifer has a recharge rate of 50,000,000 m 3 (1.1 ×10 10 imp gal) of water per year.
The aquifer is classified as a fossil aquifer, meaning that the water is not replenished if it is removed. It is 320 kilometres (200 mi) long and located 500 metres (1,600 ft) below ground inside of porous sandstone. The water in the Disi aquifer gathered 30,000 years ago during the Pleistocene era. The Disi aquifer currently supplies Aqaba with 15 million cubic meters of water per year. The President of the Jordanian Geologists Association Bahjat Al Adwan stated that the radiation is present in the water in the form of Radon, and thus dissipates harmlessly when the water is exposed to air on the surface. The Ministry said the independent study was inaccurate, as it did not test water from any of the wells that will be used in the project. Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has stated that the radioactivity is not a problem because the water is to be diluted with an equal amount of water from other sources, although it remains disputed if this would be enough to bring the water up to standards. Its total cost was US$1.1 billion.Īn independent study revealed the water to be radioactive and potentially dangerous to drink, initially surrounding the project with controversy. Construction began in 2009 and was mostly completed in July 2013 when the project was inaugurated by King Abdullah of Jordan. The water is piped to the capital, Amman, and other cities to meet increased demand. It is designed to pump 100,000,000 cubic metres (2.2 ×10 10 imp gal) of water per year from the Disi aquifer, which lies beneath the desert in southern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia. The Disi Water Conveyance Project is a water supply project in Jordan. Class=notpageimage| Water will be pumped from the Disi aquifer to Amman, Jordan.
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