AMMAN | Is water a human right? Or is water a commodity to sell for profit—and potentially exploit?
These are the central questions posed by Stolen Water, a documentary about water theft in Jordan screened by Seeds of Peace on July 7. Five Jordanian Seeds attended the event, alongside five other non-Seed participants.
After the screening, director Laila Khan hosted a panel so that Seeds could better understand the complexities on both sides of the issue. Climate change, an influx of refugees from neighboring Syria, laws regulating water use, and Jordan’s deteriorating pipe infrastructure all contribute to water scarcity, she said. She also identified different types of violations, including diverting and reselling water from the main carriers and digging wells without obtaining a license.
Seeds criticized local media coverage of the issue, especially how it painted all violators with the same brush: “Theft is theft,” one Seed remarked, “but you can’t compare between small farmers who need water for irrigation and those who steal to fill up their private swimming pools in their backyard or even large companies which pollute our drinking water.”
The issue opened up a larger discussion among Seeds about social justice and how to better realize equity in Jordan through a reformed electoral system.
Water theft is an extremely sensitive issue in Jordan; just two weeks after the screening, authorities began a sweeping investigation into the diversion of thousands of cubic meters of municipal water daily in Amman.
With an informed, deepened understanding, Seeds in the region can now form their own opinions on the subject—and perhaps one day, help solve it.