BY Osama "Mohammad Najeeb" Gazal

“Our water situation is a strategic challenge which can not be ignored, and we have to make balance between the domestic, industrial and agricultural needs, while keeping the domestic water issue the fundamental and most important.”

King Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein.


Jordan is an example of a developing nation living in a severe water crisis and striving to develop strategies to reduce the severity of the problems that is facing because of this multifaceted water crisis that impacts water supply and quality throughout the country. The Jordanian population reached on 3/11/2021 according to DOS (2021) 11,022,740 inhabitants (Jordanian and non-Jordanian) with a population density of around 124.06 for each square kilometer, with total land area equal 88849 km2. The growing water crisis puts Jordan's population among the most water-deprived in the world, with a current water supply of only 145 m3/person/year that is projected to fall to only 91 m3/person/year by 2025 (MWI 2016). According to the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation (Water Reallocation Policy report) MWI (2016) and recent official water figures and numbers from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (WIS 2020) the domestic water share in liters per person per day is 125.5 (Per capita of supplied water (l/day)) (Figure ‎1). While water billed in villages and cities in Jordan indicates that about 76 % of customers consume less than 80 l/day and 85 % consume less than 100 l/day.

The recent estimated per capita water supply (l/day) reached 100 l/day for the 2020, which is ten percent less than the global poverty line. While the water demand increased by 20 percent due to the Syrian refugee, and the increase rate reached 40 percent in the northern governorates, the water sector consumes about 15 % of the total electricity consumed in Jordan and each Syrian refugee costs the water sector around 440 JD/year (MOPIC 2014). Numerous literature reviews have declared Jordan as one of the poorest water resource countries. FAO (2003) has indicated that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is one of the 10 driest countries in the world with limited and insufficient water resources. Several studies ranked Jordan 4th among the world's poorest countries in available renewable freshwater resources per capita (MWI 2016; Daniel et al. 2013; WBG 2020). While other recent studies ranked Jordan 2nd among the world's poorest countries in water resources (MOE 2014; USAID 2018). The available renewable water per capita decreases from around 3,600 m3/year in 1946 (Courcier et al. 2005) to around 77 m3/year (MWI 2016; WBG 2020). In addition to the limited water resources in Jordan, a variety of accompanying factors have significantly aggravated the water deficit problems in recent decades according to numerous studies (USAID 2018).