VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #0668/01 0440638
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130638Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7028
INFO RUEHDOI/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHDC
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 3487
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0415
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 4303

UNCLAS AMMAN 000668 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Interior for International/Washburne 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PREL PGOV SY JO
SUBJECT: Unity Dam on Syria-Jordan Border Storing 3 MCM of Water, 
107 MCM of Air 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The Al Wehdah (Unity) Dam on the Yarmouk River 
along the Jordan-Syria border was completed in November 2006.  The 
dam can store 110 million cubic meters (MCM) of water, but it 
currently holds only 3 MCM.  When filled, the reservoir is designed 
to supply 50 MCM of drinking water to Amman and 30 MCM of irrigation 
water to the Jordan Valley per year.  According to Jordanian 
officials, reservoirs in Syria and groundwater withdrawals by both 
Syria and Jordan have reduced the flow on the Yarmouk, thus making 
it questionable whether the dam can be filled or not.  High-level 
political dialogue between Syria and Jordan on water will be needed 
to ensure the reservoir gets filled.  End summary. 
 
---------------------- 
A Long Awaited Project 
---------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U)  Background:  The dam is roughly 16 miles due east of the 
southern tip of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) on the Yarmouk 
River.  The Yarmouk is the largest tributary of the Jordan River and 
is the primary surface water resource for Jordan.  The Yarmouk 
originates in Syria and runs for 25 miles along the Syrian - 
Jordanian border and the Golan Heights before feeding into the 
Jordan River 6 miles below Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) in 
northern Israel.  Of the 2,800 square mile Yarmouk watershed, 
roughly 80% is in Syria (including the Golan Heights) and 20% is in 
Jordan.  The Yarmouk has historically contributed about 450 MCM of 
flow to the Jordan River per year but that level has dropped 
dramatically over the past decades. 
 
¶3.  (U)  There have long been plans to build a reservoir on the 
Yarmouk to capture winter storm flow, but financial and political 
difficulties hindered the project until recently.  Original plans 
for a dam on the Yarmouk date back to the 1950s.  In 1975, Jordan, 
with the help of USAID, conducted the initial feasibility study for 
the dam at the Maqarin site, six miles above the point where the 
right bank of the Yarmouk comes under Israeli control.  The project 
was postponed until 1989 and the dam was renamed Al Wehdah (Unity) 
in a nod to hoped-for Jordan-Syria cooperation.  More delays plagued 
the project and it was not until May 26, 2003 that construction on 
the Unity Dam began.  The diversion tunnel was closed and the dam 
began filling in November 2006.  END BACKGROUND. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Dam Completed but Reservoir is Empty 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (U)  The Unity Dam creates Jordan's largest (potential) 
reservoir.  The dam is 282 feet (86 meters) high from the foundation 
and has a capacity of 110 MCM.  According to officials from the 
Jordan Valley Authority, the reservoir, once filled, will yield 
about 80 MCM per year: 30 MCM for irrigation - enough to irrigate 
400 square miles of Jordan Valley agricultural land - and 50 MCM to 
Amman for drinking water.  The Jordan National Water Master Plan 
indicates that the real value of the dam will be to create more 
reliable flows on the Yarmouk by supplementing the summer deficit 
with stored winter flood waters.  The project cost approximately $95 
million and was financed primarily by a loan from the Arab Fund for 
Economic and Social Development.  Jordan plans to construct a second 
stage of the dam in the future that will raise its height to 381 
feet (116 meters), increase reservoir capacity to 225 MCM and 
incorporate a hydroelectric generator with an average output 
capacity of 18,800 megawatt hours per year.   Syria will get most of 
the hydroelectricity production but only if the second stage of the 
project is completed. 
 
¶5.  (U)  The dam only recently began collecting water and is 
currently storing a mere 3 MCM of water, less than 3% of its 
capacity.  Managers are hoping the winter flood season will 
significantly raise the level of the reservoir.  However, over the 
past twenty years, new Syrian reservoirs upstream of the dam have 
diminished annual peak flows, and ground water withdrawals in both 
Syria and Jordan have decreased base flow in the Yarmouk Basin, say 
Jordanian water officials.  Post also understands that Syria has 
undertaken soil conservation programs in the Yarmouk that may 
decrease the water flow in the Yarmouk.  The historic discharge at 
the dam is about 160 MCM per year, but that amount of flow has not 
occurred since the early 1990s. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Dam Agreement Between Syria and Jordan 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  In order to secure sufficient discharge to fill the Unity 
Dam and maintain Yarmouk flows, Jordan has begun talking with Syria 
but with little result.  An agreement between Jordan and Syria 
concerning the Yarmouk was signed in 1987.  It established Jordan's 
right to build the Unity Dam and utilize the stored flow.  The 1987 
agreement limited Syrian storage in the watershed to 25 dams - that 
were in place at the time - with a capacity of 156 MCM.  However, 
since that agreement, Syria has developed more of the Yarmouk Basin, 
and JVA estimates there are now 42 small dams and many more wells in 
the Syrian portion of the watershed.  Of course Jordan also has 
drilled new wells on its side which affect the flow. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Comment:  The Unity Dam will not have a major impact on 
Jordan's water supply in the near term.  In order to maximize the 
potential of the structure, both Jordan and Syria will have to limit 
groundwater extraction and make more surface flows available. 
Jordan has not yet exercised sufficient political leverage to get 
Damascus to make available significant new quantities of water for 
the Unity Dam.  Any actions affecting water flows on the Yarmouk 
will need top-level political involvement in both capitals. 
 
HALE