Ammon News - The Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) signed an agreement on Tuesday to upgrade supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, with a combined funding of $22 million.

The 4-year agreement is part of the Fixed Amount Reimbursement Agreement (FARA) projects pack, with $20 million provided by USAID plus a $2 million contribution from the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ).

The deal was signed by Acting Secretary General of WAJ Rami Abu Rawaq and USAID's Water and Environment Office Director Andrew McKim.

During the ceremony, Water Minister Mohamed Najjar said upgrading SCADA systems, which are software and hardware elements that allow organizations to control local and remote processes and monitor, gather, and process real-time data, will increase coordinated efforts between various water sector institutions to tackle water challenges and help prepare policies and models for data and information governance.

He thanked USAID for their continuous support, stressing that the effective partnership between the two parties continues to improve water supply performance, protect limited resources, provide technical support, advance network infrastructure, and reduce water loss.

Abu Rawaq said the agreement includes a review of the ministry's strategic plan to enhance the water sector capabilities and finalize the automation of monitoring and control processes to boost the efficient use of scarce water resources in the Kingdom.

Furthermore, the deal also stipulates activating the central water loss control unit and control centers in water authorities and companies and upgrading the ministry's computer center to accommodate added databases.