Every drop counts: The art of water conservation

September 27, 2021

Nour Zabalawi Communications & Outreach Advisor, Mercy Corps Jordan, Mercy Corps

In Amman, a lively city crisscrossed in roads lined with sandstone buildings, wild animals roamed in the area’s once verdant landscape. It is said that long ago gazelles used to gather at a large watering hole in northern Amman, in what is now known as the Ein Ghazal neighborhood. Ein Ghazal—which means “water spring of the gazelle”—is no longer home to the freshwater lake. In fact, Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, with many households lacking a deep understanding about the nation’s depleting water supply.

Since 2017, our team in Jordan has been bringing awareness to communities around water scarcity and the importance of taking part in conservation through our “Hold Water” street art project. When we brainstormed ideas on how to build awareness, I recalled my passion for art and pitched an idea for murals in public spaces. Murals would beautify our communities and remain a lasting reminder to the many people who saw them every day. This spring, we unveiled a vibrant mural in Ein Ghazal, featuring a gazelle drinking at a water spring, as a reminder to protect the resources we have now and the natural beauty of our country.

An art mural promote water conservation in amman by artists wesam shadid and ibrahim tonnerieux.

The Ein Ghazal mural is just one of the dozen we’ve put up across northern Jordan. It’s impossible to go into the area without passing by a striking piece of art with a powerful message that every drop of water counts. We held community workshops, making sure to include young people and women, to share water conservation ideas and come up with the concepts they wanted to see painted in their own neighborhood. We took those sketches and worked with both Jordanian and international artists to bring the ideas to the large-scale canvases on the sides of buildings. It was a deeply collaborative process to see our communities’ ideas and messages come together to share water-saving techniques.

A mural in progress depicting Jordan’s national bird, the Sinai rosefinch, in Mafraq.

The neighborhood watches on as artists paint a stunning mural in Irbid.

The “Hold Water” street art project is part of a larger program promoting water conservation by supporting the use of rainwater retention structures, grey-water treatment, efficient irrigation systems, and water-saving devices like efficient shower heads, toilets, and washing machines. While the program aids in bringing water-saving techniques directly to communities, we’ve prioritized outreach and communications to help Jordanians understand the challenges we’re facing. Jordan’s aquifers—the primary source of water—are being depleted faster than they can refill. This situation has been exacerbated as Jordan has welcomed more than 650,000 Syrian refugees, and by the growing effects of climate change.

In addition to creating murals to help spread awareness, we’ve used social media like WhatsApp and Facebook to reach farmers who lack information on how to optimize their irrigation systems and provided educational materials to help improve their practices. We’re working with journalists to write more intensively and accurately on water conservation issues. And to raise awareness with children—and create lifelong water conservationists—we’ve collaborated with a local cultural center to put on interactive puppet shows to engage with families.

In a celebration of rain a woman embraces falling droplets in this mural by Jonathan Darby. Her face is filled with messages written by the community of Irbid, highlighting the importance and value of this precious resource.

To highlight the intergenerational impact of a water crisis, artists Jonathan Darby and Wesam Shadid rendered an aging face resting above, while the younger face sits below the declining water level emphasizing the dwindling resource in this mural in Irbid.

Artist Jerry Rugg (BirdO) depicts Jordan’s national bird, the Sinai rosefinch, emerging from a cornucopia of plants while below a water tap. Households in Mafraq are familiar with this desert bird, which symbolizes resilience and survival with very little water.

The hands reaching toward the sky are based on photographs taken during a site visit with the community in Azraq and symbolizes the collective effort of water conservation. Artist Guido van Helten painted it on the main water tank of Jordan’s water company, Miyahuna.

The figure of this mural embodies water and is surrounded by jasmine, the black iris, and the Sinai rosefinch by artists Yazan Mesmar and Miramar Al-Nayyar.

My personal favorite mural features a woman looking skyward, embracing the rain droplets all around her in celebration of water as a gift. The art is especially resonant with me because the community helped paint parts of it by writing messages highlighting the importance and value of this precious resource. The aim of the “Hold Water” street art project has been to spark conversations on water scarcity and raise awareness in Amman households—so when I saw a young woman from the Irbid neighborhood step onto a lift and pick up a paint brush, it felt like the community had really embraced the message of water conservation as their own.

The hands reaching toward the sky symbolizes the collective effort of water conservation in this Azraq mural.

Jordan’s water company, Miyahuna, commissioned murals for their towers like this one depicting a hand carrying the tower’s “cracked plate” in an attempt to save every drop, by artists Wesam Shadid and Ibrahim Tonnerieux.

Artists Yazan Mesmar and Miramar Al-Nayyar painted a hand emerging from Phlomis and black iris flowers to grasp every single drop of water as it falls.

The black iris reminds Jordanians that they can grow and bloom by “saving every single drop of water,” by artists Wesam Shadid and Ibrahim Tonnerieux.

Our murals have been so well-received that the country’s water company, Miyahuna, commissioned a set of artwork for their water towers and reservoirs. The black iris flower is the country’s national symbol of growth and renewal and was the perfect centerpiece for the tower murals. Our partnership with Miyahuna helped to further the message of sustainable water-saving practices for our communities.

My hope for the “Hold Water” project is that we can leave behind a legacy of not just bringing impactful and bold art to our communities, but that we deliver an essential message of saving every single drop of water. We are resilient—just like Jordan’s national flower and bird, the black iris and Sinai rosefinch—and will continue to protect our water for today and generations to come.

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