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157-507: The Disi Water Conveyance Project is a water supply project in Jordan . It is designed to pump 100,000,000 cubic metres (2.2 × 10  imp gal ) of water per year from the Disi aquifer , which lies beneath the desert in southern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia . The water is piped to the capital, Amman , and other cities to meet increased demand. Construction began in 2009 and

314-631: A nahiye (subdistrict) center of the kaza of al-Salt in the Karak Sanjak established in 1894. By 1908 Amman contained 800 houses divided between three main quarters, Shapsug, Kabartai and Abzakh, each called after the Circassian groupings which respectively settled there, a number of mosques, open-air markets, shops, bakeries, mills, a textile factory, a post and telegraph office and a government compound ( saraya ). Kurdish settlers formed their own quarter called "al-Akrad" after them, while

471-554: A "harbor of the desert" where Arab Bedouin would take refuge, and that its citadel, which overlooked the town, contained a small mosque. The occupation of the Citadel Hill by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem is so far based only on interpretations of Crusader sources. William of Tyre writes in his Historia that in 1161 Philip of Milly received the castle of Ahamant, which is seen to refer to Amman, as part of

628-471: A 12 mm pipe, plus ball valve, and then supply the house on 22 or 28 mm pipes. Gravity water has a small pressure (say 1 ⁄ 4 bar in the bathroom) so needs wide pipes to allow for higher flows. This is fine for baths and toilets but is frequently inadequate for showers. A booster pump or a hydrophore is installed to increase and maintain pressure. For this reason urban houses are increasingly using mains pressure boilers ("combies") which take

785-666: A Ministry of Public Works (such as in Ecuador and Haiti ), a Ministry of Economy (such as in German states) or a Ministry of Energy (such as in Iran ). A few countries, such as Jordan and Bolivia , even have a Ministry of Water. Often several Ministries share responsibilities for water supply. In the European Union, important policy functions have been entrusted to the supranational level. Policy and regulatory functions include

942-714: A brass foundry in Rotherham . The first documented use of sand filters to purify the water supply dates to 1804, when the owner of a bleachery in Paisley, Scotland , John Gibb, installed an experimental filter, selling his unwanted surplus to the public. The first treated public water supply in the world was installed by engineer James Simpson for the Chelsea Waterworks Company in London in 1829. The practice of water treatment soon became mainstream, and

1099-566: A component of effective policy for health protection." In 1990, only 76 percent of the global population had access to drinking water. By 2015 that number had increased to 91 percent. In 1990, most countries in Latin America, East and South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa were well below 90%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where the rates are lowest, household access ranges from 40 to 80 percent. Countries that experience violent conflict can have reductions in drinking water access: One study found that

1256-611: A conflict with about 2,500 battle deaths deprives 1.8% of the population of potable water. Typically in developed countries , tap water meets drinking water quality standards , even though only a small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Other typical uses for tap water include washing, toilets, and irrigation . Greywater may also be used for toilets or irrigation. Its use for irrigation however may be associated with risks. Throughout history, people have devised systems to make getting and using water more convenient. Living in semi-arid regions, ancient Persians in

1413-493: A consumption level of 15 cubic meters per month. Few utilities do recover all their costs. According to the same World Bank study only 30% of utilities globally, and only 50% of utilities in developed countries, generate sufficient revenue to cover operation, maintenance and partial capital costs. According to another study undertaken in 2006 by NUS Consulting, the average water and sewerage tariff in 14 mainly OECD countries excluding VAT varied between US$ 0.66 per cubic meter in

1570-467: A deep valley, it will have the same nominal pressure, however each consumer will get a bit more or less because of the hydrostatic pressure (about 1 bar/10 m height). So people at the bottom of a 30-metre (100 ft) hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top. The effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance, even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15-mm pipe running from

1727-405: A dialect utilizing the various Jordanian and Palestinian dialects, has been forming. The children of immigrants in the city are also increasingly referring to themselves as "Ammani", unlike much of the first-generation inhabitants who identify more with their respective places of origin. Amman has a mostly Sunni Muslim population, and the city contains numerous mosques . Among the main mosques

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1884-701: A few cases such multi-utilities also collect solid waste and provide local telephone services. An example of such an integrated utility can be found in the Colombian city of Medellín . Utilities that provide water, sanitation and electricity can be found in Frankfurt , Germany (Mainova), in Casablanca , Morocco and in Gabon in West Africa. Multi-utilities provide certain benefits such as common billing and

2041-536: A firm to begin construction. The project proposed by the Jordanian government will pump 100,000,000 m (2.2 × 10 imp gal) of water per year from 55 wells in the aquifer. However, a total of 64 wells will be drilled, the extra wells to be used as piezometers to measure the elevation of the water. Nine of the 55 water producing wells will be used in emergencies only. The wells producing water will be drilled 600–700 m (2,000–2,300 ft) deep while

2198-558: A fully owned subsidiary of the French water company Suez Environnement , under a separate operating contract with Diwaco. The project is funded through an equity contribution of about US$ 200M from Diwaco, a $ 300M grant and a $ 100M stand-by facility from the Jordanian government, as well as US$ 475M in foreign loans to Diwaco. The project's total cost is expected to be US$ 1.1 billion. The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation has lent US$ 250M to Diwaco to support U.S. foreign investment on

2355-514: A great degree of autonomy. In the United States regulatory agencies for utilities have existed for almost a century at the level of states, and in Canada at the level of provinces. In both countries they cover several infrastructure sectors. In many U.S. states they are called Public Utility Commissions . For England and Wales, a regulatory agency for water ( OFWAT ) was created as part of

2512-429: A huge amount of capital investment in infrastructure such as pipe networks, pumping stations and water treatment works . It is estimated that in developing countries investments of at least US$ 200 billion have to be made per year to replace aging water infrastructure to guarantee supply, reduce leakage rates and protect water quality. International attention has focused upon the needs of developing countries . To meet

2669-424: A long time to fill a bath but suit the high back pressure of a shower. A great variety of institutions have responsibilities in water supply. A basic distinction is between institutions responsible for policy and regulation on the one hand; and institutions in charge of providing services on the other hand. Water supply policies and regulation are usually defined by one or several Ministries, in consultation with

2826-579: A major airline in the region. The airline is headquartered in Zahran district . Rubicon Group Holding and Maktoob , two major regional information technology companies, are based in Amman, along with major international corporations such as Hikma Pharmaceuticals , one of the Middle East's largest pharmaceutical companies, and Aramex , the Middle East's largest logistics and transportation company. In

2983-410: A mandate to settle complaints by consumers that have not been dealt with satisfactorily by service providers. These specialized entities are expected to be more competent and objective in regulating service providers than departments of government Ministries. Regulatory agencies are supposed to be autonomous from the executive branch of government, but in many countries have often not been able to exercise

3140-586: A number of townspeople from nearby al-Salt and al-Fuheis , seeking to avoid high taxes and conscription or attracted by financial incentives, and traders from Najd and Morocco , had also moved to the town. The city's demographics changed dramatically after the Ottoman government's decision to construct the Hejaz Railway , which linked Damascus and Medina, and facilitated the annual Hajj pilgrimage and trade. Operational in central Transjordan since 1903,

3297-631: A particularly severe earthquake in 747. The Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasids three years later. Amman's importance declined by the mid-8th century after damage caused by several earthquakes rendered it uninhabitable. Excavations among the collapsed layer of the Umayyad Palace have revealed remains of kilns from the time of the Abbasids (750–969) and the Fatimids (969–1099). In

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3454-583: A period of Roman rule that lasted for four centuries. In the northern modern-day Jordan, the Greek cities of Philadelphia (Amman), Gerasa , Gedara , Pella and Arbila joined with other cities in Palestine and Syria ; Scythopolis , Hippos , Capitolias , Canatha and Damascus to form the Decapolis League , a confederation linked by bonds of economic and cultural interest. Philadelphia became

3611-784: A point along a road stretching from Ailah to Damascus that was built by Emperor Trajan in AD 106. This provided an economic boost for the city in a short period of time. Roman rule in Jordan left several ruins across the country, some of which exist in Amman, such as the Temple of Hercules at the Amman Citadel , the Roman Theatre , the Odeon , and the Nymphaeum . The two theaters and

3768-496: A poor or very poor quality of service. Continuity of water supply is taken for granted in most developed countries but is a severe problem in many developing countries, where sometimes water is only provided for a few hours every day or a few days a week; that is, it is intermittent . This is especially problematic for informal settlements , which are often poorly connected to the water supply network and have no means of procuring alternative sources such as private boreholes . It

3925-633: A report by Dunia Frontier Consultants, Amman, along with Doha , Qatar and Dubai , United Arab Emirates , are the favored hubs for multinational corporations operating in the Middle East and North Africa region. In FDI magazine, Amman was chosen as the Middle Eastern city with the most potential to be a leader in foreign direct investment in the region. Furthermore, several of the world's largest investment banks have offices in Amman including Standard Chartered , Société Générale , and Citibank . The population of Amman reached 4,007,526 in 2015;

4082-485: A result of immigration, but also due to the high birthrate in the city. Amman had been abandoned for centuries until hundreds of Circassians settled it in the 19th century. Today, about 40,000 Circassians live in Amman and its vicinity. After Amman became a major hub along the Hejaz Railway in 1914, many Muslim and Christian merchant families from al-Salt immigrated to the city. A large proportion of Amman's inhabitants have Palestinian roots (urban or rural origin), and

4239-466: A single city, town or municipality . However, in many countries municipalities have associated in regional or inter-municipal or multi-jurisdictional utilities to benefit from economies of scale . In the United States these can take the form of special-purpose districts which may have independent taxing authority. An example of a multi-jurisdictional water utility in the United States is WASA ,

4396-407: A small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. Water supply is a separate topic from irrigation , the practice and systems of water supply on a larger scale, for a wider variety of purposes, primarily agriculture . Water supply systems get water from

4553-557: A sustained improvement track, but many others keep falling further behind best practice. Benchmarking the performance of utilities allows the stimulation of competition, establish realistic targets for improvement and create pressure to catch up with better utilities. Information on benchmarks for water and sanitation utilities is provided by the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities. The cost of supplying water consists, to

4710-602: A temple, which included an altar containing many human bone fragments. The bones showed evidence of burning, which led to the assumption that the altar functioned as a pyre and used for human sacrifice . Amman is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, the Ammonite king Hanun allied with Hadadezer , king of Aram-Zobah , against the United Kingdom of Israel . During

4867-581: A town around the 5th century AD. It has not been completely excavated. It was influenced by several civilizations including the Romans, Byzantines and Muslims. The site contains some well-preserved mosaic floors, particularly the mosaic floor of the Church of Saint Stephen. Downtown Amman , the city center area (known in Arabic as Al-Balad ), has been dwarfed by the sprawling urban area that surrounds it. Despite

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5024-576: A trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures and waste of water. Pressure in an urban water system is typically maintained either by a pressurised water tank serving an urban area, by pumping the water up into a water tower and relying on gravity to maintain a constant pressure in the system or solely by pumps at the water treatment plant and repeater pumping stations. Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar (60–70 PSI ) for an urban supply. However, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross

5181-485: A typical consumption of 15 cubic meters per month vary between less than US$ 1 and US$ 12 per month. Water and sanitation tariffs, which are almost always billed together, can take many different forms. Where meters are installed, tariffs are typically volumetric (per usage), sometimes combined with a small monthly fixed charge. In the absence of meters, flat or fixed rates—which are independent of actual consumption—are being charged. In developed countries, tariffs are usually

5338-759: A utility serving Washington, D.C. and various localities in the state of Maryland . Multi-jurisdictional utilities are also common in Germany, where they are known as "Zweckverbaende", in France and in Italy. In some federal countries, there are water service providers covering most or all cities and towns in an entire state, such as in all states of Brazil and some states in Mexico (see Water supply and sanitation in Mexico ). In England and Wales , water supply and sewerage

5495-453: A utility to better locate distribution losses (technical objective). Fourth, it allows suppliers to charge for water based on use, which is perceived by many as the fairest way to allocate the costs of water supply to users. Metering is considered good practice in water supply and is widespread in developed countries, except for the United Kingdom . In developing countries it is estimated that half of all urban water supply systems are metered and

5652-423: A variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater ( aquifers ), surface water ( lakes and rivers ), and the sea through desalination . The water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification , disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation . Treated water then either flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs , which can be elevated such as water towers or on

5809-418: A very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to a small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). The full cost of supplying water in urban areas in developed countries is about US$ 1–2 per cubic meter depending on local costs and local water consumption levels. The cost of sanitation (sewerage and wastewater treatment )

5966-434: A viable solution including Rainwater harvesting and Stormwater harvesting where policies are eventually tending towards a more rational use and sourcing of water incorporation concepts such as "Fit for Purpose". Water supply service quality has many dimensions: continuity; water quality ; pressure; and the degree of responsiveness of service providers to customer complaints. Many people in developing countries receive

6123-475: A whole was dramatically improved after the attack, and no major terrorist attacks have been reported since then. Most recently a wave of Syrian refugees have arrived in the city during the ongoing Syrian Civil War which began in 2011. Amman was a principal destination for refugees for the security and prosperity it offered. During the 2010s, the city has experienced an economic, cultural and urban boom. The large growth in population has significantly increased

6280-420: A year and over $ 1 billion annually. Amman is introducing itself as a business hub. The city's skyline is being continuously transformed through the emergence of new projects. A significant portion of business flowed into Amman following the 2003 Iraq War . Jordan's main airport, Queen Alia International Airport , is located south of Amman and is the hub for the country's national carrier Royal Jordanian ,

6437-563: A year. The average annual rainfall in Amman is around 385 mm (15 in), with great variations between different parts of the city. The western areas receive more than 500 mm (20 in) of rainfall, whereas the eastern areas receive less than 250 mm (10 in). Rainfall primarily occurs between November and April, and periodic droughts are not uncommon. Amman experiences heavy fog on about 120 days each year. The city's diverse weather conditions are heavily influenced by differences in elevation . While snow might accumulate in

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6594-543: Is a predominantly Christian town located to the northwest of the city. A small Armenian Catholic community of around 70 families is present in the city. Ecclesiastical courts for matters of personal status are also located in Amman. A total of 16 historic churches are located in Umm ar-Rasas ruins in Al-Jeezah district; the site is believed to have initially served as Roman fortified military camps which gradually became

6751-622: Is also a risk that staff are appointed mainly on political grounds rather than based on their professional credentials. International standards for water supply system are covered by International Classification of Standards (ICS) 91.140.60. Comparing the performance of water and sanitation service providers ( utilities ) is needed, because the sector offers limited scope for direct competition ( natural monopoly ). Firms operating in competitive markets are under constant pressure to out perform each other. Water utilities are often sheltered from this pressure, and it frequently shows: some utilities are on

6908-512: Is among the most popular locations in the Arab world for multinational corporations to set up their regional offices, alongside Doha and only behind Dubai . Amman has a bus network , including a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that serves the city and connects to neighboring Zarqa . Amman derives its name from the ancient people of the Ammonites , whose capital the city had been since

7065-559: Is an essential governance reform in order to reduce the high levels of Unaccounted-for Water (UAW) and to provide the finance needed to extend the network to those poorest households who remain unconnected. Partnership arrangements between the public and private sector can play an important role in order to achieve this objective. An estimated 10 percent of urban water supply is provided by private or mixed public-private companies, usually under concessions , leases or management contracts . Under these water service contract arrangements

7222-454: Is another US$ 1–2 per cubic meter. These costs are somewhat lower in developing countries. Throughout the world, only part of these costs is usually billed to consumers, the remainder being financed through direct or indirect subsidies from local, regional or national governments (see section on tariffs). Besides subsidies water supply investments are financed through internally generated revenues as well as through debt. Debt financing can take

7379-529: Is divided into twelve administrative divisions, each called a governorate. Amman Governorate divides into nine districts , five of which are divided into sub-districts. The Greater Amman Municipality has 22 areas which are further divided into neighborhoods. The city is administered as the Greater Amman Municipality and covers 22 areas which include: The banking sector is one of the principal foundations of Jordan's economy. Despite

7536-416: Is dwarfed, however, by the current extraction rate of 90,000,000 m (2.0 × 10 imp gal) for agricultural and domestic needs, including 15,000,000 m (3.3 × 10 imp gal) of water that is supplied to Aqaba, Jordan . The current extraction rate of 90,000,000 m (2.0 × 10 imp gal), coupled with the future extraction rate of 100,000,000 m (2.2 × 10 imp gal) for

7693-455: Is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis. Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension. There are thousands of parameters of water quality. In public water supply systems water should, at a minimum, be disinfected—most commonly through the use of chlorination or the use of ultraviolet light—or it may need to undergo treatment, especially in

7850-775: Is expected to be completed by January 2017 and to run for 25 years or until the Two Seas Canal is built. The 100,000,000 m (2.2 × 10 imp gal) of water will be divided between the Abu Alanda reservoir and the Dabouq reservoir. Approximately 40,000,000 m (8.8 × 10 imp gal) of water will be sent to the Abu Alanda reservoir where it will be diluted with water from the Zara Ma’en desalination plant as well as water from Wala. The remaining 60,000,000 m (1.3 × 10 imp gal) of water will be sent to

8007-448: Is insulated from arbitrary political intervention; and whether there is an explicit mandate and political will to allow the service provider to recover all or at least most of its costs through tariffs and retain these revenues. If water supply is the responsibility of a department that is integrated in the administration of a city, town or municipality, there is a risk that tariff revenues are diverted for other purposes. In some cases, there

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8164-490: Is less than 0.5 millisievert per year. The worldwide average natural dose of human's exposure to radiation is about 2.5-3 millisievert per year. "Disi water is purer than bottled water and I take full responsibility for what I’m saying,” the Minister said during a press conference. Water supply The cost of supplying water consists, to a very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to

8321-526: Is moderately long, characterized by mild heat and refreshing breezes. However, occasional heatwaves may occur during this period. Spring is brief yet warm, with temperatures reaching highs of 28 °C (82 °F). This season typically commences between April and May, lasting for about a month. Winter usually sets in around the end of November, extending through early to mid-March. During winter, temperatures typically hover around or below 17 °C (63 °F), with sporadic snowfall occurring once or twice

8478-586: Is more modern and serves as the economic center of the city. Approximately one million visitors arrived in Amman in 2018, which made it the 89th most-visited city in the world and the 12th most-visited Arab city. Amman has a relatively fast growing economy and it is ranked as a Beta− global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . Moreover, it was named one of the Middle East and North Africa's best cities according to economic, labor, environmental, and socio-cultural factors. The city

8635-501: Is responsible to build the project over a 4-year period and to operate it for another 25 years. At the end of the concession period the ownership will transfer to the Jordanian government. Diwaco will retain any profits and will bear the risk of losing its equity. Construction is undertaken by GAMA Power Systems, another subsidiary of GAMA Holding, under a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contract with Diwaco. Operation will be undertaken by Disi Amman Operation Maintenance LLC,

8792-582: Is supplied almost entirely through ten regional companies. Some smaller countries, especially developed countries, have established service providers that cover the entire country or at least most of its cities and major towns. Such national service providers are especially prevalent in West Africa and Central America, but also exist, for example, in Tunisia , Jordan and Uruguay (see also water supply and sanitation in Uruguay ). In rural areas, where about half

8949-516: Is the capital and the largest city of Jordan , and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant region, the fifth-largest city in the Arab world , and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the Middle East . The earliest evidence of settlement in Amman dates to

9106-437: Is the large King Abdullah I Mosque , built between 1982 and 1989. It is capped by a blue mosaic dome beneath which 3,000 Muslims may offer prayer. The Abu Darweesh Mosque, noted for its checkered black-and-white pattern, has an architectural style that is unique to Jordan. The mosque is situated on Jabal Ashrafieh , the highest point in the city. The mosque's interior is marked by light-colored walls and Persian carpets. During

9263-406: Is typified by its mountains . The most important areas in the city are named after the hills or mountains they lie on. The area's elevation ranges from 700 to 1,100 m (2,300 to 3,600 ft). Al-Salt and al-Zarqa are located to the northwest and northeast, respectively, Madaba is located to the west, and al-Karak and Ma'an are to Amman's southwest and southeast, respectively. One of

9420-732: The Ayyubid period, leaving it to further research to find the location of the Crusader castle. During the Ayyubid period, the Damascene geographer al-Dimashqi wrote that Amman was part of the province of al-Karak , although "only ruins" remained of the town. During the Mamluk era (late 13th–early 16th centuries), the region of Amman was a part of Wilayat Balqa, the southernmost district of Mamlakat Dimashq (Damascus Province). The capital of

9577-780: The Babylonians and the Achaemenid Persians . Conquest of the Middle East and Central Asia by Alexander the Great firmly consolidated the influence of Hellenistic culture . The Greeks founded new cities in the area of modern-day Jordan, including Umm Qays , Jerash and Amman. Ptolemy II Philadelphus , the Macedonian ruler of Egypt, who occupied and rebuilt the city, named it "Philadelphia" ( Ancient Greek : Φιλαδέλφεια ), evoking "brotherly love" in Greek . The name

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9734-666: The Edomites and Moabites , trade along this route gave the Ammonites considerable revenue. Milcom is named in the Hebrew Bible as the national god of Rabat Amman. Another ancient deity , Moloch , usually associated with the use of children as offerings, is also mentioned in the Bible as a god of the Ammonites, but this is probably a mistake for Milcom. However, excavations by archeologists near Amman Civil Airport uncovered

9891-472: The Hejaz Railway helped to transform Amman from a small village into a major commercial hub in the region. Circassian entrepreneurship, facilitated by the railway, helped to attract investment from merchants from Damascus, Nablus, and Jerusalem, many of whom moved to Amman in the 1900s and 1910s. Amman's first municipal council was established in 1909, and Circassian Ismael Babouk was elected as its mayor. The First and Second Battle of Amman were part of

10048-538: The Kabardian and Abzakh groups in 1880–1892. Until 1900 settlement was concentrated in the valley and slopes of the Amman stream and settlers built mud-brick houses with wooden roofs. The French Dominican priest Marie-Joseph Lagrange commented in 1890 about Amman: "A mosque, the ancient bridges, all that jumbled with the houses of the Circassians gives Amman a remarkable physiognomy". The new village became

10205-882: The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I and the Arab Revolt , taking place in 1918. Amman had a strategic location along the Hejaz Railway; its capture by British forces and the Hashemite Arab army facilitated the British advance towards Damascus . The second battle was won by the British, resulting in the establishment of the British Mandate . In 1921, the Hashemite emir and later king Abdullah I designated Amman instead of al-Salt to be

10362-748: The Millennium Development Goals targets of halving the proportion of the population lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, current annual investment on the order of US$ 10 to US$ 15 billion would need to be roughly doubled. This does not include investments required for the maintenance of existing infrastructure. Once infrastructure is in place, operating water supply and sanitation systems entails significant ongoing costs to cover personnel, energy, chemicals, maintenance and other expenses. The sources of money to meet these capital and operational costs are essentially either user fees, public funds or some combination of

10519-561: The Umayyad caliphs who began their rule in 661 AD, numerous desert castles were established as a means to govern the desert area of modern-day Jordan, several of which are still well-preserved. Amman had already been functioning as an administrative centre. The Umayyads built a large palace on the Amman Citadel hill, known today as the Umayyad Palace . Amman was later destroyed by several earthquakes and natural disasters, including

10676-551: The na'ib as-saltana of Egypt. The increasingly frequent division and sale of the city and lands of Amman to different owners signalled declining revenues coming from Amman, while at the same time, Hisban was restored as the major city of the Balqa in the 15th century. From then until 1878, Amman was an abandoned site periodically used to shelter seasonal farmers who cultivated arable lands in its vicinity and by Bedouin tribes who used its pastures and water. The Ottoman Empire annexed

10833-520: The nymphaeum fountain were built during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius around AD 161. The theatre was the larger venue of the two and had a capacity for 6,000 attendees. It was oriented north and built into the hillside, to protect the audience from the sun. To the northeast of the theatre was a small odeon . Built at roughly the same time as the theatre, the Odeon had 500 seats and is still in use today for music concerts. Archaeologists speculate that

10990-456: The 13th century BC. The Ammonites named it Rabat ʿAmmān (𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍), with the term Rabat meaning the "Capital" or the "King's Quarters". In the Hebrew Bible , the town is referred to as Rabbaṯ Bənē ʿAmmōn ( רַבַּת בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן ) or simply Rabbā ( רַבָּה ), and it appears in English translations as "Rabbath Ammon". Ptolemy II Philadelphus , the Macedonian ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who reigned from 283 to 246 BC, renamed

11147-412: The 1st millennium BC used qanat system to gain access to water in the mountains. Early Rome had indoor plumbing, meaning a system of aqueducts and pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains for people to use. Until the Enlightenment era , little progress was made in water supply and sanitation and the engineering skills of the Romans were largely neglected throughout Europe. It

11304-441: The 2004 Amman Message conference, edicts from various clergy-members afforded the following schools of thought as garnering collective recognition: Hanafi , Hanbali , Maliki , Shafi'i, Ja'fari, Zahiri, Zaydi, Ibadi , tassawuf-related Sufism , Muwahhidism and Salafism . Amman also has a small Druze community. Large numbers of Christians from throughout Jordan, particularly from al-Salt, have moved to Amman. Nearby Fuheis

11461-403: The 340 km (210 mi) of project's piping had arrived from Turkey, an anonymous source told The Jordan Times . This source stated that the project was over 50% completed and that it was ahead of schedule. Construction was delayed by disgruntled members of a Bedouin tribe living in the area, who allegedly intimidated workers by shooting in the air and at construction equipment. All work

11618-713: The 8th millennium BC in 'Ain Ghazal , home to the world's oldest statues of the human form . During the Iron Age , the city was known as Rabat Aman , the capital of the Ammonite Kingdom . In the 3rd century BC, the city was renamed Philadelphia and became one of the ten Greco-Roman cities of the Decapolis . Later, in the 7th century AD, the Rashidun Caliphate renamed the city Amman. Throughout most of

11775-513: The Amman Stock Exchange and is the highest-ranked institution by market capitalization on the exchange. Amman is the 4th most visited Arab city and the ninth highest recipient of international visitor spending. Roughly 1.8 million tourists visited Amman in 2011 and spent over $ 1.3 billion in the city. The expansion of Queen Alia International Airport is an example of the Greater Amman Municipality's heavy investment in

11932-623: The Dabouq reservoir where it will be diluted with water from the Zai Treatment Plant as well as water from Wala. It is estimated that the cost of one cubic meter of water from the project will be 0.74 JOD (US$ 1.05). In June 2009, the Turkish firm GAMA began construction. By February 2011, eight piezometer wells and two water producing wells have been completed. Twenty-three other wells were to be drilled, and 85 km (53 mi) of pipe were to be installed. By April 2011, 99% of

12089-490: The Disi aquifer gathered 30,000 years ago during the Pleistocene era . It is 320 kilometres (200 mi) long and located 500 metres (1,600 ft) below ground inside of porous sandstone . The aquifer is classified as a fossil aquifer , meaning that the water is not replenished if it is removed. In fact, the aquifer has a recharge rate of 50,000,000 m (1.1 × 10 imp gal) of water per year. This recharge

12246-766: The Islamic era, the city alternated between periods of devastation and periods of relative prosperity. Amman was largely abandoned during the Ottoman period from the 15th century until 1878, when it was resettled by Circassians. The city grew after it was connected to the Hejaz Railway in 1904, leading to the formation of its first municipal council in 1909. Amman witnessed rapid growth after its designation as Transjordan 's capital in 1921, receiving migrations from different Jordanian and Levantine cities, and later several successive waves of refugees: Palestinians in 1948 and 1967; Iraqis in 1990 and 2003; and Syrians since 2011. It

12403-691: The Ottoman Empire, which had moved large numbers of them into its province of Syria . The Ottoman authorities directed the Circassians , who were mainly of peasant stock, to settle in Amman, and distributed arable land among them. Their settlement was a partial manifestation of the Ottoman statesman Kamil Pasha 's project, which did not materialize, to establish the Amman Province ( vilayet ) which, along with other sites in its vicinity, would become Circassian-populated townships guaranteeing

12560-555: The PLO in 1971, and the latter were expelled to Lebanon . The first wave of Iraqi refugees settled in the city after the 1991 Gulf War , with a second wave occurring in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq . On 9 November 2005, Al-Qaeda under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's leadership launched coordinated explosions in three hotel lobbies in Amman, resulting in 60 deaths and 115 injured. The bombings, which targeted civilians, caused widespread outrage among Jordanians. Jordan's security as

12717-653: The President of the Jordanian Geologists Association Bahjat Al Adwan stated that the radiation is present in the water in the form of Radon, and thus dissipates harmlessly when the water is exposed to air on the surface. This explanation has not been confirmed scientifically, however. During the inauguration of the conveyor in July 2013 Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazim El-Nasser said that after mixing Disi water radiation

12874-735: The United States and the equivalent of US$ 2.25 per cubic meter in Denmark. However, water consumption is much higher in the US than in Europe. Therefore, residential water bills may be very similar, even if the tariff per unit of consumption tends to be higher in Europe than in the US. A typical family on the US East Coast paid between US$ 30 and US$ 70 per month for water and sewer services in 2005. In developing countries, tariffs are usually much further from covering costs. Residential water bills for

13031-481: The West Bank moved to the city during the 1967 War . By 1970, the population had swelled to an estimated 550,000. A further 200,000 Palestinians arrived after their expulsion from Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War . Several large Palestinian refugee camps exist around the center of Amman. Because Amman lacks a deep-rooted native population, the city does not have a distinct Arabic dialect , although recently such

13188-527: The World Bank the average ( mean ) global water tariff is US$ 0.53 per cubic meter. In developed countries the average tariff is US$ 1.04, while it is only U$ 0.11 in the poorest developing countries. The lowest tariffs in developing countries are found in South Asia (mean of US$ 0.09/m3), while the highest are found in Latin America (US$ 0.41/m3). Data for 132 cities were assessed. The tariff is estimate for

13345-671: The basis that General Electric partially owns GAMA Energy. The state-owned French bank PROPARCO , which is the part of the French Development Agency (AFD) that supports private sector development, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) each lent about US$ 100M to Diwaco. The loan package has been put together by the Arab Banking Corporation . Much of the government grant supporting the project comes from sovereign soft loans that

13502-475: The beginning of the 21st Century, especially in areas of urban and suburban population centers, traditional centralized infrastructure have not been able to supply sufficient quantities of water to keep up with growing demand. Among several options that have been managed are the extensive use of desalination technology, this is especially prevalent in coastal areas and in "dry" countries like Australia . Decentralization of water infrastructure has grown extensively as

13659-441: The best forms of public management. As Ryutaro Hashimoto , former Japanese Prime Minister, notes: "Public water services currently provide more than 90 percent of water supply in the world. Modest improvement in public water operators will have immense impact on global provision of services." Governance arrangements for both public and private utilities can take many forms (Kurian and McCarney, 2010). Governance arrangements define

13816-536: The busts depicted two-headed characters, the significance of which is not clear. In the 13th century BC, Amman was the capital of the Ammonite Kingdom , and became known as "Rabat Amman". Rabat Amman provided several natural resources to the region, including sandstone and limestone, along with a productive agricultural sector that made it a vital location along the King's Highway , the ancient trade route connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia , Syria and Anatolia . As with

13973-506: The capital of Balqa was transferred from Hisban to Amman, which was considered a madina (city). In 1357, Emir Sirghitmish bought Amman in its entirety, most likely to use revenues from the city to help fund the Madrasa of Sirghitmish , which he built in Cairo that same year. After his purchase of the city, Sirghitmish transferred the courts, administrative bureaucracy, markets and most of

14130-749: The capital of the newly created state, the Emirate of Transjordan , which became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1950. Its function as the capital of the country attracted immigrants from different Levantine areas, particularly from al-Salt, a nearby city that had been the largest urban settlement east of the Jordan River at the time. The early settlers who came from Palestine were overwhelmingly from Nablus , from which many of al-Salt's inhabitants had originated. They were joined by other immigrants from Damascus. Amman later attracted people from

14287-427: The case of surface water . Water quality is also dependent of the quality and level of pollution of the water source. Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system. Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to result only in

14444-424: The changes, much remains of its old character. Jabal Amman is a tourist attraction in old Amman, where the city's largest souks, museums, ancient constructions, monuments, and cultural sites are found. Jabal Amman also contains the famous Rainbow Street and the cultural Souk Jara market. Residential buildings are limited to four stories above street level and if possible another four stories below, according to

14601-418: The city "Philadelphia" ( Ancient Greek : Φιλαδέλφεια ; literally: " brotherly love "), after himself, after occupying it. By the Islamic era, the Rashidun Caliphate restored its ancient semitic name and called it Amman in the 7th century AD. The Neolithic site of ʿAin Ghazal today lies in the outskirts of Amman. At its height, around 7000 BC (9000 years ago), it had an area of 15 hectares (37 acres) and

14758-471: The city contains about 42% of Jordan's entire population. It has a land area of 1,680 km (648.7 sq mi) which yields a population density of about 2,380 inhabitants per square kilometer (6,200/sq mi). The population of Amman has risen exponentially with the successive waves of immigrants and refugees arriving throughout the 20th century. From a population of roughly 1,000 in 1890, Amman grew to around 1,000,000 inhabitants in 1990, primarily as

14915-565: The city for economic opportunities before the 1948 war . Many of the immigrants from al-Salt from that time were originally from Nablus . The 1948 war caused an exodus of urban Muslim and Christian Palestinian refugees, mostly from Jaffa , Ramla and Lydda , to Amman, whose population swelled to 110,000. With Jordan's capture of the West Bank during the war, many Palestinians from that area steadily migrated to Amman between 1950 and 1966, before another mass wave of Palestinian refugees from

15072-440: The city's infrastructure. The recent construction of a public transportation system and a national railway, and the expansion of roads, are intended to ease the traffic generated by the millions of annual visitors to the city. Amman, and Jordan in general, is the Middle East's hub for medical tourism . Jordan receives the most medical tourists in the region and the fifth highest in the world. Amman receives 250,000 foreign patients

15229-536: The damage brought by a major earthquake that hit the region in the year 362. Qasr al-Abd is believed to have been built by Hyrcanus of Jerusalem, who was the head of the powerful Jewish Tobiad family. Shortly after he began the construction of that large building, in c.  170 -168 BC, upon returning from a military campaign in Egypt, Antiochus IV conquered Jerusalem , ransacked the Second Temple where

15386-480: The district in the first half of the 14th century was the minor administrative post of Hisban , which had a considerably smaller garrison than the other administrative centers in Transjordan, namely Ajlun and al-Karak. In 1321, the geographer Abu'l Fida , recorded that Amman was "a very ancient town" with fertile soil and surrounded by agricultural fields. For unclear, though likely financial reasons, in 1356,

15543-553: The excavations started, around 600 meters (2,000 feet) of road ran through the site. Despite the damage brought by urban expansion, the remains of ʿAin Ghazal provided a wealth of information. ʿAin Ghazal is well known for a set of small human statues found in 1983, when local archeologists stumbled upon the edge of a large pit containing them. These statues are human figures made with white plaster, with painted eyes. Thirty-two figures were found in two caches, fifteen of them full figures, fifteen busts, and two fragmentary heads. Three of

15700-437: The following: In the United States , the typical single family home uses about 520 L (138 US gal) of water per day (2016 estimate) or 222 L (58.6 US gal) per capita per day. This includes several common residential end use purposes (in decreasing order) like toilet use, showers , tap (faucet) use, washing machine use, leaks , other (unidentified), baths , and dishwasher use. During

15857-457: The form of credits from commercial Banks, credits from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks (in the case of developing countries), and bonds (in the case of some developed countries and some upper middle-income countries). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. According to estimates by

16014-595: The government of Jordan has borrowed from the EIB and AFD and passes on as a grant to the project. AFD provided US$ 50M for the state grant and $ 48M for the stand-by facility. The project became controversial in 2009 when a study performed by Avner Vengosh of Duke University revealed the Disi water to be highly radioactive . Water was tested from 37 existing wells in the aquifer, and all but one had concentrations of radioactive radium-226 and radium-228 isotopes that exceeded international standards for drinking water . Some of

16171-515: The ground (for indicators related to the efficiency of drinking water distribution see non-revenue water ). Once water is used, wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a river, lake, or the sea or reused for landscaping or irrigation . A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes

16328-525: The higher-altitude western and northern regions of Amman (with an average altitude of 1,000 m or 3,300 ft above sea level), the city center (at an elevation of 700 m or 2,300 ft) might experience rainfall simultaneously. This variation in elevation leads to extreme microclimates within Amman, with each district having its own distinct weather patterns. Amman is governed by a 41-member city council elected in four-year term direct elections. All Jordanian citizens above 18 years old are eligible to vote in

16485-415: The inhabitants of Hisban to Amman. Moreover, he financed new building works in the city. Ownership of Amman following Sirghitmish's death in 1358 passed to successive generations of his descendants until 1395, when his descendants sold it to Emir Baydamur al-Khwarazmi, the na'ib as-saltana (viceroy) of Damascus. Afterward, part of Amman's cultivable lands were sold to Emir Sudun al-Shaykhuni (died 1396),

16642-497: The iron main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22-mm iron pipe, so their kitchen tap flow will be small. For this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally (prior to 1989) employed a "cistern feed" system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic . Water can dribble into this tank through

16799-405: The killings, the town of Ma'an had protests against the government's failure to punish the killers. During October and November, 2011 the construction works have been suspended at southern part of the project from Hasa to Mudawwara due to security problems created by tribes, therefore there is delay in this part which will affect the completion date of the project. By the end of 2013, portion of

16956-565: The late 9th century, Amman was noted as the "capital" of the Balqa by geographer al-Yaqubi . Likewise, in 985, the Jerusalemite historian al-Muqaddasi described Amman as the capital of Balqa, and that it was a town in the desert fringe of Syria surrounded by villages and cornfields and was a regional source of lambs, grain and honey. Its inhabitants he reports, at the time, were Shia Muslims . Furthermore, al-Muqaddasi describes Amman as

17113-612: The legislative branch. In the United States the United States Environmental Protection Agency , whose administrator reports directly to the President, is responsible for water and sanitation policy and standard setting within the executive branch. In other countries responsibility for sector policy is entrusted to a Ministry of Environment (such as in Mexico and Colombia ), to a Ministry of Health (such as in Panama , Honduras and Uruguay ),

17270-545: The lordship of Oultrejordain . In 1166 Philip joined the military order of the Knights Templar , passing on to them a significant part of his fief including the castle of Ahamant or "Haman", as it is named in the deed of confirmation issued by King Amalric . By 1170, Amman was in Ayyubid hands. The remains of a watch tower on Citadel Hill, first attributed to the Crusaders, now are preferentially dated to

17427-584: The main losers from this institutional arrangement are the urban poor in these countries. Because they are not connected to the water supply network , they end up paying far more per liter of water than do more well-off households connected to the network who benefit from the implicit subsidies that they receive from loss-making utilities. The fact that we are still so far from achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation shows that public water authorities, in their current state, are not working well enough. Yet some are being very successful and are modelling

17584-426: The municipal elections. However, the mayor is appointed by the king and not through elections. In 1909 a city council was established in Amman by Circassian Ismael Babouk who became the first-ever mayor of the capital, and in 1914 Amman's first city district center was founded. The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has been investing in making the city a better place, through a number of initiatives. Green Amman 2020

17741-463: The national government. This is, for example, the case in the countries of continental Europe, in China and India. Water supply service providers, which are often utilities , differ from each other in terms of their geographical coverage relative to administrative boundaries; their sectoral coverage; their ownership structure; and their governance arrangements. Many water utilities provide services in

17898-483: The need for new accommodation, and new districts of the city were established at a quick pace. This strained Jordan's scarce water supply and exposed Amman to the dangers of quick expansion without careful municipal planning. Amman is situated on the East Bank Plateau , an upland characterized by three major wadis which run through it. Originally, the city had been built on seven hills . Amman's terrain

18055-561: The non-revenue water problem remains, it is possible that a large portion of the water provided by the Disi Water Conveyance project will also be lost as it is piped through Amman. The Disi Water Conveyance project was first proposed in the 1990s, but was initially regarded as too expensive. A feasibility study was completed in 1996. But it was not until 2007 that the Jordanian Government was able to contract

18212-474: The only remaining springs in Amman now supplies the Zarqa River with water. Trees found in Amman include Aleppo pine , Mediterranean cypress and Phoenician juniper . Amman features a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csa) in its western and northern neighborhoods, while its eastern and southern neighborhoods experience a semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh/BSk). The summer season in Amman

18369-545: The option to cross-subsidize water services with revenues from electricity sales, if permitted by law. Water supply providers can be either public, private, mixed or cooperative. Most urban water supply services around the world are provided by public entities. As Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange (2002) stated, "The water crisis that is affecting so many people is mainly a crisis of governance—not of water scarcity ." The introduction of cost-reflective tariffs together with cross-subsidization between richer and poorer consumers

18526-515: The other to use less of the shared water. There is no formal agreement between the countries regarding the water and the Disi Water Conveyance Project is being constructed without Saudi consultation or involvement. Non-revenue water is a serious problem in Amman. Currently, 40% of water in Amman is lost as non-revenue water. The city rations water, with individual residents averaging 36 hours of water access weekly. If

18683-428: The overall low level of water tariffs in developing countries even at higher levels of consumption, most consumption subsidies benefit the wealthier segments of society. Also, high industrial and commercial tariffs can provide an incentive for these users to supply water from other sources than the utility (own wells, water tankers) and thus actually erode the utility's revenue base. Water supply and sanitation require

18840-442: The piezometers will be drilled to a depth of 400 m (1,300 ft). The plan is to pump the piezometer wells for 25 years, according to the project leader. After being pumped from the wells, water will then be transported to Amman , via a 325 km (202 mi) pipeline, passing through a pumping station, then flowing by gravity and being pumped up again. The reservoirs near Amman are only 200 m (660 ft) higher than

18997-541: The privatization of the water industry in 1989. In many developing countries, water regulatory agencies were created during the 1990s in parallel with efforts at increasing private sector participation. (for more details on regulatory agencies in Latin America, for example, please see Water and sanitation in Latin America and the regional association of water regulatory agencies ADERASA. ) Many countries do not have regulatory agencies for water. In these countries service providers are regulated directly by local government, or

19154-557: The production wells were substantially complete and turned over to DIWACO. The project is funded on a build-operate-transfer concession contract between the Jordanian government and the Disi Water Company (Diwaco), a subsidiary of the Turkish construction company GAMA Energy . GAMA Energy is a joint venture between the Turkish GAMA Holding and the US firm General Electric Energy Financial Services. Diwaco

19311-636: The project, is expected to produce a total extraction rate of 190,000,000 m (4.2 × 10 imp gal). At that rate, the water in the aquifer will last a minimum of 50 years, according to the Disi Water Company. Only a small portion of the Disi aquifer lies beneath Jordan , while the majority lies beneath Saudi Arabia . Saudi Arabia also extracts water from the aquifer (called the Saq aquifer in Saudi Arabia). The aquifer has created controversy between Saudi Arabia and Jordan, with each country demanding

19468-479: The prophet Jeremiah foresaw the coming destruction and final desolation of the city ( Jeremiah 49:2 ). Several Ammonite ruins across Amman exist, such as Rujm Al-Malfouf and some parts of the Amman Citadel . The ruins of Rujm Al-Malfouf consist of a stone watchtower used to ensure the protection of their capital and several store rooms to the east. The city was later conquered by the Assyrians , followed by

19625-731: The public entity that is legally responsible for service provision delegates certain or all aspects of service provision to the private service provider for a period typically ranging from 4 to 30 years. The public entity continues to own the assets. These arrangements are common in France and in Spain . Only in few parts of the world water supply systems have been completely sold to the private sector ( privatization ), such as in England and Wales as well as in Chile . The largest private water companies in

19782-451: The public sector. They are owned by the state or local authorities, or also by collectives or cooperatives. They run without an aim for profit but are based on the ethos of providing a common good considered to be of public interest. In most middle and low-income countries, these publicly owned and managed water providers can be inefficient as a result of political interference, leading to over-staffing and low labor productivity. Ironically,

19939-419: The radioactivity of the water which, according to Vengosh's data, would not be enough to bring the water up to standards. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation, however, has declared Vengosh's data to be inaccurate, as his study did not test water from any of the wells that will be used in the project. As radiation varies from well to well, it is possible that the data Vengosh collected does not accurately reflect

20096-685: The re-established city. Jordan gained its independence in 1946 and Amman was designated the country's capital. Amman received many refugees during wartime events in nearby countries, beginning with the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . A second wave arrived after the Six-Day War in 1967. In 1970, Amman was a battlefield during the conflict between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Jordanian Army known as Black September . The Jordanian Army defeated

20253-621: The region of Amman in 1516, but for much of the Ottoman period, al-Salt functioned as the virtual political center of Transjordan. Amman began to be resettled in 1878, when several hundred Muslim Circassians arrived following their expulsion from the North Caucasus by the Russian Empire during the events of the Russo-Circassian War . Between 1878 and 1910, tens of thousands of Circassians became refugees in

20410-412: The relationship between the service provider, its owners, its customers and regulatory entities. They determine the financial autonomy of the service provider and thus its ability to maintain its assets, expand services, attract and retain qualified staff, and ultimately to provide high-quality services. Key aspects of governance arrangements are the extent to which the entity in charge of providing services

20567-594: The same for different categories of users and for different levels of consumption. In developing countries, the situation is often characterized by cross-subsidies with the intent to make water more affordable for residential low-volume users that are assumed to be poor. For example, industrial and commercial users are often charged higher tariffs than public or residential users. Also, metered users are often charged higher tariffs for higher levels of consumption (increasing-block tariffs). However, cross-subsidies between residential users do not always reach their objective. Given

20724-527: The security of the Damascus– Medina highway. The first Circassian settlers, who belonged to the Shapsug dialect group, lived near Amman's Roman theater and incorporated its stones into the houses they built. The English traveller Laurence Oliphant noted in his 1879 visit that most of the original Circassian settlers had left Amman by then, with about 150 remaining. They were joined by Circassians from

20881-565: The setting of tariff rules and the approval of tariff increases; setting, monitoring and enforcing norms for quality of service and environmental protection; benchmarking the performance of service providers; and reforms in the structure of institutions responsible for service provision. The distinction between policy functions and regulatory functions is not always clear-cut. In some countries they are both entrusted to Ministries, but in others regulatory functions are entrusted to agencies that are separate from Ministries. Dozens of countries around

21038-620: The seventh century, several bishops and churches were based in the city. In the 630s, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the region from the Byzantines , beginning the Islamic era in the Levant. Philadelphia was renamed "Amman" by the Muslims and became part of the district of Jund Dimashq . A large part of the population already spoke Arabic , which facilitated integration into the caliphate , as well as several conversions to Islam . Under

21195-403: The southern part of the country, particularly al-Karak and Madaba . The city's population was around 10,000 in the 1930s. The British report from 1933 shows around 1,700 Circassians living in Amman. Yet the community was far from insulated. Local urban and nomadic communities formed alliances with the Circassians, some of which are still present today. This cemented the status of Circassians in

21352-402: The structure was originally covered with a wooden roof to shield the audience from the weather. The Nymphaeum is situated southwest of the Odeon and served as Philadelphia's chief fountain. The Nymphaeum is believed to have contained a 600 square meters (6,500 sq ft) pool which was 3 meters (9.8 ft) deep and was continuously refilled with water. During the late Byzantine period in

21509-414: The surface area where the pumping field is located. Nevertheless, the total elevation differential over which water needs to be lifted by both pumping stations is about 800 metres (2,600 ft). To pump the water through the proposed pipeline will require 4 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter of water. The entire project would require approximately 4 percent of Jordan's current electrical production. The project

21666-493: The tendency is increasing. Water meters are read by one of several methods: Most cities are increasingly installing automatic meter reading (AMR) systems to prevent fraud, to lower ever-increasing labor and liability costs and to improve customer service and satisfaction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "access to safe drinking-water is essential to health, a basic human right and

21823-592: The treasure of Hyrcanus was kept, and appeared determined to attack Hyrcanus. Upon hearing this, Hyrcanus committed suicide, leaving his palace in Philadelphia uncompleted. The Tobiads fought the Arab Nabateans for twenty years until they lost the city to them. After losing Philadelphia, the Tobiad family disappears from written sources. The Romans conquered much of the Levant in 63 BC, inaugurating

21980-521: The two main demographic groups in the city today are Arabs of Palestinian or Jordanian descent. Other ethnic groups comprise about 2% of the population. There are no official statistics about the proportion of people of Palestinian or Jordanian descent. New arrivals consisting of Jordanians from the north and south of the country and immigrants from Palestine had increased the city's population from 30,000 in 1930 to 60,000 in 1947. About 10,000 Palestinians, mostly from Safed , Haifa and Acre , migrated to

22137-410: The two. It is also important to consider is the flexibility of the water supply system. Metering of water supply is usually motivated by one or several of four objectives. First, it provides an incentive to conserve water which protects water resources (environmental objective). Second, it can postpone costly system expansion and saves energy and chemical costs (economic objective). Third, it allows

22294-647: The unrest and economic difficulties in the Arab world resulting from the Arab Spring uprisings, Jordan's banking sector maintained its growth in 2014. The sector consists of 25 banks, 15 of which are listed on the Amman Stock Exchange . Amman is the base city for the international Arab Bank , one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East, serving clients in more than 600 branches in 30 countries on five continents. Arab Bank represents 28% of

22451-458: The virtues of the system were made starkly apparent after the investigations of the physician John Snow during the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak demonstrated the role of the water supply in spreading the cholera epidemic. Amman Amman ( UK : / ə ˈ m ɑː n / ə- MAHN , US : / ɑː ˈ m ɑː n / ah- MAHN ; Arabic : عَمَّان , romanized :  ʿAmmān , pronounced [ʕaˈmːaːn] )

22608-442: The war, Joab , the captain of King David 's army, laid siege to Rabbah, Hanun's royal capital, and destroyed it ( 2 Samuel 12:26–28 , 1 Chronicles 20:1–2 ). David took a great quantity of plunder from the city, including the king's crown, and brought it to his capital, Jerusalem ( 2 Samuel 12:29–31 ). Hanun's brother, Shobi , was made king in his place, and became a loyal vassal of David ( 2 Samuel 17:27 ). Hundreds of years later,

22765-506: The water sources to be used in the project. Although testing at the well sites that supply Aqaba reveals high radioactivity, testing performed using water from the tap in Aqaba shows the water to be safe. There is no confirmed explanation for this phenomenon, although it is hypothesized that the depth of the wells (the ones that supply Aqaba are relatively shallow) may play a role as the radiation varies greatly at shallow depths. In May, 2011,

22922-458: The water tested exceeded standards by 2,000%. Drinking water with these isotopes has been linked to bone cancer and leukemia . Though expensive, the water could be purified of the radioactive isotopes through ion-exchange purification . Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has stated that the radioactivity is not a problem because the water is to be diluted with an equal amount of water from other sources. This dilution would presumably halve

23079-402: The water up to standards. The Ministry said the independent study was inaccurate, as it did not test water from any of the wells that will be used in the project. The President of the Jordanian Geologists Association Bahjat Al Adwan stated that the radiation is present in the water in the form of radon , and thus dissipates harmlessly when the water is exposed to air on the surface. The water in

23236-400: The world are Suez and Veolia Environnement from France; Aguas de Barcelona from Spain; and Thames Water from the UK, all of which are engaged internationally (see links to website of these companies below). In recent years, a number of cities have reverted to the public sector in a process called " remunicipalization ". 90% of urban water supply and sanitation services are currently in

23393-423: The world have established regulatory agencies for infrastructure services, including often water supply and sanitation, in order to better protect consumers and to improve efficiency. Regulatory agencies can be entrusted with a variety of responsibilities, including in particular the approval of tariff increases and the management of sector information systems, including benchmarking systems. Sometimes they also have

23550-504: The world population lives, water services are often not provided by utilities, but by community-based organizations which usually cover one or sometimes several villages. Some water utilities provide only water supply services, while sewerage is under the responsibility of a different entity. This is for example the case in Tunisia . However, in most cases water utilities also provide sewer and sewage treatment services. In some cities or countries utilities also distribute electricity. In

23707-594: Was given as an adulation to his own nickname, Philadelphus. One of the most original monuments in Jordan, and perhaps in the Hellenistic period in the Near East, is the village of Iraq al-Amir in the valley of Wadi Al-Seer , southwest of Amman, which is home to Qasr al-Abd ('Castle of the Slave'). Other nearby ruins include a village, an isolated house and a fountain, all of which are barely visible today due to

23864-485: Was in the 18th century that a rapidly growing population fueled a boom in the establishment of private water supply networks in London . London water supply infrastructure developed over many centuries from early mediaeval conduits, through major 19th-century treatment works built in response to cholera threats, to modern, large-scale reservoirs. The first screw-down water tap was patented in 1845 by Guest and Chrimes,

24021-410: Was inhabited by ca. 3000 people (four to five times the population of contemporary Jericho ). At that time, the site was a typical aceramic Neolithic village. Its houses were rectangular mud-bricked buildings that included a main square living room, whose walls were made up of lime plaster. The site was discovered in 1974 as construction workers were working on a road crossing the area. By 1982, when

24178-495: Was initially built on seven hills , but now spans over 19 hills combining 22 areas, which are administered by the Greater Amman Municipality . Areas of Amman have gained their names from either the hills ( jabal ) or the valleys ( wadi ) they occupy, such as Jabal al-Luweibdeh and Wadi Abdoun. East Amman is predominantly filled with historic sites that frequently host cultural activities, while West Amman

24335-568: Was initiated in 2014, aiming to turn the city to a green metropolis by 2020. According to official statistics, only 2.5% of Amman is green space . In 2015 GAM and Zain Jordan started operating free-of-charge Wi-Fi services at 15 locations, including Wakalat Street , Rainbow Street , The Hashemite Plaza , Ashrafieh Cultural Complex, Zaha Cultural Center, Al Hussein Cultural Center, Al Hussein Public Parks and others. Jordan

24492-524: Was mostly completed in July 2013 when the project was inaugurated by King Abdullah of Jordan. Its total cost was US$ 1.1 billion. An independent study revealed the water to be radioactive and potentially dangerous to drink, initially surrounding the project with controversy. Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has stated that the radioactivity is not a problem because the water is to be diluted with an equal amount of water from other sources, although it remains disputed if this would be enough to bring

24649-570: Was stopped for two weeks after two employees were killed in January 2011 — allegedly murdered by a member of the Bedouin tribe. The tribe had been upset because GAMA did not rent its water tankers, according to Adnan Zu'b, Assistant Secretary Genera at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. To satisfy the tribe, GAMA then announced plans to rent tankers from the tribe. However, near the site of

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