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.

Shifting regional relationships have affected Jordan’s access to these shared resources throughout the country’s history. In several cases, Jordan has received less than its equitable share of the resource, as upstream neighbours overexploit rivers and groundwater sources through damming, diversions and pumping.

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.

Given the issues discussed above regarding the amount, reliability and quality of surface water sources, the Jordanian population relies mainly on groundwater for its domestic water supply.

about 239 MCM or 28% from surface water (of which 50 MCM comes from Israel under the 1994 peace treaty agreement) and about 433 MCM or 51% from renewable groundwater. The remaining amount comes from non-renewable aquifer (fossil) groundwater (about 75 MCM or 9%) and treated wastewater (about 102 MCM or 12%).