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Ammon News - The National Water Strategy 2023-2040 predicted that Jordan's per capita share of annual renewable water resources would decrease from 61 cubic meters to 35 cubic meters, if available water quantities remain at their current levels at a time when the global absolute scarcity rate is 500 meters.

The strategy attributed this to the increase in the population coinciding with the decrease in the quantities of water from the current available sources.

The per capita share in Jordan is “much lower” than the absolute global scarcity rate of 500 cubic meters per year per capita, while the average per capita share of water in the Middle East and North Africa in 2019 was approximately 800 cubic meters per year, according to the strategy.

The strategy showed that Jordan, which is considered one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of water, has a major challenge in bridging the widening gap between the demand for water and available sources due to population growth and the frequent influx of refugees.

The total quantities of water available from all sources amounted to approximately 1.093 million cubic meters in 2021, including ground and surface water, treated sewage water and desalinated water, of which about 680 million cubic meters are renewable fresh water, of which the per capita share in 2021 was about 61 cubic meters for all uses.