Available water resources in Syria are utilized in all household and services sectors, (including commercial and tourist sectors), industrial (such as hydroelectric applications) and agricultural at rates which vary according to the sector. Available estimates show that in the year 2003 the volume of water resource utilization exceeded 16 billion m3.
The agricultural sector: This sector has monopolized about 90% of the total usable water. According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, it monopolized 92.88% of it. This quantity is utilized for irrigating about 1350 thousand hectares of land in all Syria cities although the cultivated areas are not more than 23% of arable land of approx 5.8 million hectares most of which are non-irrigation lands (data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform 2003). These areas are irrigated by means of well water, surface water and government irrigation projects and directly by river and spring water.
Although figures for water resources are very difficult to obtain due to the lack of reliable data, it can be estimated that water resources generated from rain falling within the country amount to 7 km³/year. Groundwater recharge is about 4.2 km³/year, of which 2 km³/year discharges into rivers as spring water. Total groundwater inflow has been estimated at 1.35 km³/year, of which 1.2 km³ from Turkey and 0.15 km³ from Lebanon. Although not quantified, the amount of groundwater flowing into Jordan may be significant.