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.

Water is considered a public good in Israel. The basis for policies and water administration in Israel is the 1959 Water Law.

Cumulative water use in 2013 was around 2,187 MCM, exceeding natural water supply by about 45%. This deficit is increasingly made up for by alternative water sources.

Israel has developed innovative solutions to address its water challenges. The most significant of these are desalination and wastewater reuse . . .

Lebanon is naturally water rich compared to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, much of this water flows to the sea unused due to inefficient use and poorly maintained or absent infrastructure.

In 1997, the World Bank described the water situation in Gaza as an “emergency state of affairs”. Yet nearly 20 years on, the levels of pumping have only increased, pollution has worsened and large parts of the water infrastructure in the area have been damaged or destroyed. Why was Gaza’s “emergency state of affairs” left to deteriorate beyond the point of repair?

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.

Agriculture is considered highly important to the Palestinian economy, as it makes up 25% of exports and directly employs around 117,000 Palestinians. However, agriculture contributes only about 12% to Palestinian GDP, while continuing to be the largest consumer of water, accounting for more than 62% of total use according to the World Bank. The amount of water currently used for irrigation is about 141 MCM/yr to irrigate around 200,000 dunum (1 dunum is about 0.1 hectare) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip