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A Salty Oasis: Salt Production in Azraq, Jordan
| Article
# : |
10796 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1993 |
785 Words |
| Author
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Vivian Ronay
Vivian Ronay is a freelance photojournalist. |
Azraq, located in northeastern Jordan near the Iraqi border,
is an unlikely place to find a snowplow. Yet there one is,
pushing around mountains of white brought in by truck from
across town. Home to one of the few oases found in the
country, this Druze-populated town is the production center
for Jordan's salt industry.
Below the surface of the earth in Azraq is water containing salt. Much of the region's underground water flows into the valley in which this town is located. This water is brought to the surface through small electric pumps, then piped to large, shallow beds. Eventually, the water evaporates, and residual salt is left in plastic-lined pools. The salt is scooped up and trucked to a nearby refinery for processing. Afterward, it is distributed throughout Jordan.
Salt is harvested only once a year due to the region's climatic conditions. The salt is pumped and dried from June through August, Azraq's dry season. (In the rainy season, much of Azraq's open land is flooded; in fact, ducks migrate there.) The water is pumped out of the earth and left in a holding bed for twenty-four hours, allowing the sand to settle out. Then, the water is pumped to other beds, eight meters by fifty meters and about one meter deep, where it evaporates. The dried, crystallized salt is hauled to the refinery, where it is washed and crushed. Magnesium carbonate is added to keep it from caking when packaged, and iodine is added to salt that is sold for food seasoning. A portion of the raw salt is sold for industrial chemical use.
Seventy years ago, only a few people lived in Azraq. It is home to an ancient fortress named Qasr al Azraq, which most recently was used by Lawrence of Arabia. The town was peopled by Druze who came to Azraq during the great Arab revolt against the Turks in the early twentieth century. Around this time, the first salty water was siphoned from the earth by people who brought their animals to drink fresh water at the oasis. Afterward, Azraq quickly became a trade center on the ancient commercial routes that passed through Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
A cooperative effort
The Druze have retained local control of this economic resource by organizing labor, management, planning, land
...
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