The government has been putting some efforts into diffusing new irrigation technologies and starting a group of water management departments and organizations. Syria seems to understand the water problems it faces, but it also seems to be slowly getting up to speed to solve them. Even so, Syrian cities reuse a lot of the treated wastewater. Wastewater infrastructure development seems lacking. The government has been putting a lot of effort and money into improving wastewater treatment in general, but it does not seem to be keeping up with the growing problems. By law this wastewater cannot be used for irrigating vegetables that will not be cooked, but it surely must be adding to the health problems in the country in some way. Some of the farmers and others say this reduces the need for fertilizers. Some of the fields are irrigated with wastewater, but not in a way one would hope. Wells by law need to be licensed, but the rule of law in Syria is sometimes not the letter of the law. Hence, water is overused, much more land is becoming saline, and water tables are being drawn down in some places at a fast rate. This rate does not even get near to true costs of the water they use. Farmers have subsidized energy and also have a yearly flat rate payment for irrigation water. Much of the irrigation is done in somewhat wasteful ways that has much of the precious water pouring past the crops. Only one-fourth of that land is irrigated.
About one-third of its land is cultivatable. But let’s look at some more recent facts and events.Ībout 30 percent of Syria’s labor force works in agriculture. This has been the case since this area was part of the Eblan civilization, or about 2500 BC, onward.
Syria’s economics, history, politics, diplomacy, and culture have often been defined in a large part by water.
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