Jordan: National Water Strategy 2008-2022 Adopted

A Royal panel tasked with formulating a news JD5.86 billion water strategy last 12 May presented its final report to His Majesty King Abdullah, who gave the go-ahead for the implementation of the plan. The strategy entails a series of water mega projects to meet the Kingdom’s needs.

The strategy, which covers the period up to 2022, seeks to achieve a set of objectives, including the provision of sufficient and safe drinking water, maximising the benefits of surface water and bringing an end to arbitrary pumping from underground wells, among others.

According to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the per capita water share in Jordan is estimated at 145 cubic metres annually, while the international water poverty line is 1,000 cubic metres per capita annually.

Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said the government would endeavour to implement the strategy, emphasising the government's keenness to execute the Disi Water Conveyance Project as soon as possible, among other projects in the sector.

The premier also pointed to the ongoing World Bank-funded environmental impact and feasibility studies on the Red-Dead Canal scheme.

Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud said the strategy entails a decreasing reliance on underground water from 32 per cent currently to 17 per cent by the end of the implementation period and an increased use of treated wastewater in agriculture from 10 per cent to 13 per cent. Dependence on water desalination projects will grow from 1 per cent presently to 31 per cent in 2022.

The plan cites a water deficit of 638 million cubic metres in 2007. The minister said better water management is the answer to this problem. Even when the Disi project is fully implemented, he told the meeting, the deficit will be about 503 million cubic metres in 2022. These figures highlight the vitality of implementing desalination projects under the Red-Dead project, he said.

It also entails reducing the percentage of water loss, said the minister, adding that the total cost of the strategy includes the government's contribution to projects implemented by the private sector.

Abu Saud, who reviewed the strategy's goals, said its implementation requires effective institutional reforms and using water resources competently.

Institutional reforms of the water sector require enacting a new water law, separating operational from administrative work, and production from distribution operations, activating the role of the Water Council and creating a commission to regulate the sector, said the minister.

Such reforms, he added, also require establishing a court for water issues and increasing reliance on ICT in the management of the sector.

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Water for Life: Jordan's Water Strategy - 2008-2022