British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 405. Chapter X: Irrigation and Drainage: Section 3: Prospects

CHAPTER X.

Section 3.

PROSPECTS.

The general question of the water resources of Palestine, their use !or irrigation and the possibility of major projects.

(a). INTRODUCTORY.

58. The chief water resources of 'irrigation' countries such as Iraq and Egypt are known and comparatively assured quantities, which are brought by one or two large rivers from sources outside their frontiers; the function of the irrigation departments of such countries is to construct works for the distribution of those supplies, laid ready for use at their doors, to lands which, for the most part, are naturally disposed for irrigation. Palestine is much less fortunate. It has only one stream which might be called a river and that is a very little one in a most unfavourable location. It is true that Palestine can be considered as having its own hydrologic cycle; that is to say, the water resources, which appear above and exist below the surface of the country, probably all depend upon the rain vapour condensed from the water evaporated from Palestine and the neighbouring sea. The average annual rainfall of Palestine is seven or eight thousand millions of cubic metres or, if the catchment of the Jordan springs is included, ten thousand millions. If this was distributed evenly throughout the year there might be no need for irrigation. What happens to the rain?. How much of it can be made available for man's use before it gets completely out of reach or before it goes back to the atmosphere?. How best can it be used?. It is the answer to these questions which the hydrologist in Palestine has to find.

59. The average annual total amount of flow in all the surface springs, streams, and winter torrents in the country" may be reckoned at between 1400 and 1800 millions of cubic metres. Some idea of what this means can be gathered from the following comparisons. The Tennessee river in the United States and the Tigris in Iraq have each a discharge of over 31,000 million cubic metres a year (1000 cubic metres per second); the Nile has three times this quantity. The flow of the Jordan, which is very much larger than any other stream in Palestine, is less than 3% of either Tigris or Tennessee and not much more than 1 % of the Nile. In Egypt there is enough water in the Nile for every inhabitant to have 5,000 cubic metres a year. In the Iraq rivers there are about 10,000 cubic. metres of water for every person. In Palestine the total annual supply is about 1000 cubic metres per head of the present population.
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* Excluding Trans-Jordan'a share of the Jordan.

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