JordaniansToday

Jordan Monday, March 18, 2013 2 pages

by Leeza Alba
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Many of us, Jordanian citizens, have

come to confide in our own water or bottled
water rather than the tap water the
government provides for us. The bottled
water industry has been booming ever since
Jordan's 1998 water pollution crisis. An
interesting statistic that derived from
reading the article
Quality of Jordans
water: Filtering fact from fiction:
8 in 10
people consume their water from water
bottles rather than drinking tap water. As a
result, there are 5 different water bottle
distributors, 542 local water purification
plants, and 32 water bottle factories; even
after experts and officials claim that the
water is safe and could even be a better
2
option than other sources.

an anonymous official claims to have noticed

1
a drastic saving of water.
In the intent to
salvage water, some parts of Jordan are only
supplied water 24 hours a week, which some
families say is a deficit amount of a
necessary source. Also, the price for water
has come to be 25 Jordanian Dinars for six
cubic metres. Even then, the majority of our
4
water is used in agriculture!
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Wistfully, Jordan continues being one of the

worlds 10 countries of which have the most
water scarcity. The availability of water
depletes as the population is increasing at
unsustainable rates. In agreement with
Jordan: Water is Life
published by the
World Health Organization who reports that
in the brief time of two decades the shortage
on the water will become a more impactful
3
issue.
Nonetheless, it is still a current issue
we should be addressing before it becomes
impossible to repair. The draining of our
aquifers, a nonrenewable source, is already
impacting our health and environment. It is
even predicted that this coming summer will
bring extensive deficiency in water.
SOURCES:

Now, could Jordan be running out of

water in the near future? As I mentioned
before people also acquire their own water.
However, they go about collecting their
water illegally. 70 percent of water loss in
Jordan is due to water theft. Examples of
water theft would consist of illegal wells,
illegal pipes, and drilling rigs. After taking
initiative and sealing thousands of fixtures

1.

2.
Photograph of the Jordan river where some of their water
comes from
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3.
4.

Namrouqa, Hana. "'Authorities Dismantle over 408

Illegal Fixtures on Water Mains, Pipes in January'"
Jordan Times
. The Jordan Times, 15 Feb. 2015.
Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Namrouqa, Hana. "Quality of Jordan's Drinking
Water: Filtering Fact from Fiction." Jordan Times.
The Jordan Times, 26 Dec. 2011. Web. 13 Mar.
2015.
"Jordan: Water Is Life."
WHO
. World Health
Organization, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
"Water Shortage in Jordan."
Euro-Mediterranean
Academy for Young Journalists
. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
Mar. 2015.

Jordan Declares Vengeance on Islamic State

Recently, ISIS has taken action again;
kidnapping a new hostage from Jordan. The
hostage was a Jordanian Pilot named Muath
al-Kasasbeh. In trade ISIS demanded a
massive amount of money and a suicide
1
bomber that was being held in custody.
Jordan required evidence of the pilots life
after agreeing to her release. When ISIS
failed to satisfy their request and instead
posted a video of the pilots death, the
4
bomber, Sajida al-Rishawi was executed.
Jordan made the correct decision in ending
the life of the bomber.
The hanging of Sajida al-Rishawi
demonstrates that Jordan is determined to
fight back in vengeance of the horrific death
and for the safety of their country. According
to
Jordan unleashes wrath on ISIS: This is
just the beginning,
the new king, Abdullah
II made an oath to take action against the
Islamic State. The Jordan military forces
proceed to do just that as they sent 30 fighter
jets to participate in an attack against the
2
terrorist group.
However, this is only the
beginning of a war against the Islamic State.
A war much deserved by the organization of
terrorists after abounding heinous murders.
Others may claim that retaliating
against ISIS in such a barbaric and brutal
way as their own crimes may only cause
more attacks. However, ISIS followers are

diminishing as the persistent attacks

continue. In fact, Jordan has newly led an
airstrike on ISIS training centers, arms, and
5
ammunition depots.
The aggression was
successful as 100% of the targets were
demolished and all planes returned back
2
without harm.
Also, it might be considered
un-humane to have executed the bomber yet
she was part of a terrorist group that had
planned to kill dozens of people in a suicide
bombing. Not only were those her intentions
but she also agreed to the deal ISIS had
suggested.
Most of Jordan citizens who stand by
3
ISIS have the same reason: poverty.
ISIS
has offered more opportunities and
discipline to towns in Jordan but, is it worth
innocent lives and appalling retaliations
against governments? Ultimately, I believe
Jordan is making equitable decision in the
attacks against terrorism.
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Picture of the video posted by ISIS of the pilots murder.

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SOURCES:
1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

Al-Marsi, Abdulraham. "Jordan vs ISIS: What

Is the next Phase?"
Middle East Monitor
. N.p.,
6 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Botelho, Greg, and Jomana Karadsheh.
"Jordan Unleashes Wrath on ISIS: 'This Is
Just the Beginning' - CNN.com."
CNN
. Cable
News Network, 6 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Mar.
2015.
Crossan, Andrea. "Jordan Is Divided over the
Fight against ISIS."
Public Radio
International
. N.p., 11 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Mar.
2015.
Mullen, Jethro. "Anger Boils in Jordan over
ISIS Killing of Pilot: What Comes Next? CNN.com."
CNN
. Cable News Network, 4 Feb.
2015. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.Mullen, Jethro.
"Anger Boils in Jordan over ISIS Killing of
Pilot: What Comes Next? - CNN.com."
CNN
.
Cable News Network, 4 Feb. 2015. Web. 4
Mar. 2015.
Nordland, Rod. "ISIS Tactics Questioned as
Hostages Dwindle."
The New York Times
. The
New York Times, 01 Feb. 2015. Web. 12 Mar.
2015.