Internationally, a water availability below 1,000 m3 per person per year is defined as water scarcity, while below 500 m3 is considered “absolute scarcity”. Jordan’s lack of water resources impacts the country’s economic growth, political stability and national security, but also public health.

The population of Jordan has risen substantially over the last 60 years, from around 470,000 in the early 1950s to 6.2 million in 2010, a figure that is expected to double in the next three decades.

This will require not only a comprehensive managerial framework, but also strong political will and focus to tackle a rapidly worsening situation and ensure long-term sustainability of the resource.

In many ways, past policies and practices have exacerbated the problems of access, abstraction and overuse of this essential natural resource. After decades of relying mainly on supply-side solutions, Jordan has expanded its approaches to addressing these problems.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation further outlined in 2008 its focus on improving water supply to the domestic and industrial sectors and on reducing demand in the agricultural sector. While in 2013 agriculture still used about 53% of the country’s total water budget,

, in February 2015, the US government provided a grant to the Jordanian government to launch a public awareness campaign in the Zarqa Governorate, in conjunction with water and sewage projects overseen by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

Leakage, water loss and water theft form a huge problem in Jordan. An estimated 40% to 80% of the water supply is lost in the network, depending on the location.

The Water Authority of Jordan has developed a policy to allow private initiative in the water sector in the form of private water companies and public-private partnerships.

After the peace treaty in 1994, the implementation of a canal linking the Red Sea and the Dead Sea became the focal point of Israeli-Jordanian cooperation. In February 2015, Jordan and Israel signed an agreement to implement the first phase of the project at a cost of $900 million over a period of three years.

Rapid population growth in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s drove the Jordanian government to implement a strategy of food security, which in turn led to a sharp rise in water use in the government-supported agricultural sector.