Modernizing an Ancient Oasis

Juma'a plants cauliflower, eggplant, tomatoes, cabbage and other delicious fruits and vegetables in Jericho’s famous, fertile soil. He is continuing the farming tradition of his ancestors, who have reaped the benefits of this ancient oasis for thousands of years. Through an irrigation project implemented by ANERA, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and carried out in cooperation with the Jericho municipality, Juma'a and other farmers like him are better able to utilize this incredible resource.

Jericho has depended on the springs flowing downhill from Jerusalem and Ramallah for millennia. Over the past decade, the largest of these springs, Ein al-Sultan, has become modernized through the Ein al-Sultan Spring Irrigation project. The spring, which provides a flow of water year-round, has been connected to an advanced water distribution system that benefits all of Jericho's farmers and residents.

As Mazen Dabbagh, a program manager at ANERA explains, “Before this system was implemented, water was distributed on a time-based system. Farmers would receive a water flow from the springs for a certain amount of time based on their water rights. A farmer could either immediately use the water he received or store it for later use in a pond. The old irrigation system consisted of open canals. The main irrigation canals were concrete-lined, while many of the secondary canals were earthen. They were in a poor state due to lack of maintenance and suffered from seepage and evaporation. They also were prone to pollution.”

According to a Palestinian Water Authority survey, there were substantial water losses amounting to 35 percent. During the summer, very little and sometimes no water at all reached the end of the main canals. As a result, farmers in those locations could not irrigate their land.

The aim of the Ein al-Sultan Spring Irrigation project has been to modernize the older, ineffective system to benefit the poor farmers. Inefficient canals have been replaced with 45 kilometers of new pipes, hydrants, valves, pumps, and stand-by generators. The system has now been converted to a pressurized system, increasing the overall efficiency. As a result, farmers have access to a greater supply of water.

The Ein al-Sultan Irrigation Spring project includes a state-of-the-art pumping facility located at the spring's source. Another part of the project is a network of meters that measures the water that farmers use. “We will now be saving 1.2 million cubic meters per year. Farmers will know exactly how much water they are receiving and benefit from every drop,” said Mr. Dabbagh.

Juma'a explained how the Ein al-Sultan Spring Irrigation project has helped him. “This system is better because we always have enough water now. It constantly flows and I’ve been able to bring more land under cultivation.”

The Ein al-Sultan Spring Irrigation project is the first of its kind in the West Bank and over 940 farming families have benefited. The new network includes approximately 45 kilometers of pipes, which replaced open canals. ANERA helped establish a water users’ association to maintain the water system and ensure farmers are charged a fair rate for usage. Several legal questions had to be tackled regarding the old water rights system. The Ein al-Sultan Spring Irrigation project helped set a standard for how to best introduce, develop, and manage a new irrigation system. Its successful implementation can serve as a model for the modernization of future systems in the Palestinian territories.