TITLE:
The Hydrogeological Consequences of the Proposed Extraction of the Deep Groundwater in Jordan
AUTHORS:
Elias Salameh
KEYWORDS:
Exploitation Implications, Deep Groundwater, Shallow Groundwater, Interconnectedness, Desalination, Jordan
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.9 No.8,
August
16,
2021
ABSTRACT: Many
officials and planners in Jordan have advocated in the last decade extracting
the deep brackish, thermal, and salty groundwater resources, desalinate them,
and use them for household water supplies. Generally, such groundwater is
non-renewable and is found in aquifers underlying fresh renewable groundwater
bodies building the base support for them. The deep groundwater feeds the
thermal mineralized springs issuing along the eastern escarpment of the Dead
Sea-Jordan Rift Valley used for therapeutic purposes. In this article, the
geologic set-up of the aquifer series underlying the different parts of the
country is outlined to illustrate that all such aquifers extending from ground
surface to the impermeable granitic Basement Complex are, in the majority of
areas, directly or indirectly interconnected and that extractions from any
aquifer, shallow or deep, are effectively taken from the same stock of the
groundwater body. Hence, it is concluded that advocating the extraction of the
deep salty or brackish groundwater is quasi extracting the same amount of
groundwater from the overlying, shallower fresh water aquifers. The deep
groundwater issues along the eastern escarpment of the Jordan Rift Valley and
is used in household supplies, in irrigation and in spas as curative agent. In
addition, the intended use of the deep groundwater to be extracted according to
the suggested policy in household supplies requiring desalination, which is a
costly unnecessary process accompanied with rigorous environmental
ramifications of disposing off the desalination brines.