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.

Treating wastewater will eliminate environmental degradation, improve public health and increase water availability, as the treated water will be reused for agriculture. The PWA has conducted several studies on building new treatment plants and rehabilitating existing ones throughout the West Bank with the support of international donors. In its strategy published in 2014, the PWA states that three new wastewater treatment plants are under reconstruction, and six feasibility studies have been conducted for constructing additional treatment plants.

In response to the humanitarian water crisis in Gaza, the PWA initiated the Gaza Sustainable Water Supply Program (GSWSP), which takes a comprehensive approach to increasing water supply in Gaza …

Per capita water availability in Palestine will keep decreasing if no new water resources are developed. Since its creation in 1995, the PWA has dealt with water supplies by negotiating for a fair share of water resources with Israel. Unfortunately, the results of these efforts have not lead to any further increase in the Palestinian share from the Mountain Aquifer and the Jordan River in the West Bank or the Coastal Aquifer in Gaza. In fact, the situation has worsened over the years.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has significantly damaged the water/waste water infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank. This in turn has had a significant negative impact on the Palestinian people in both areas. The lack of access to a consistent, sufficient, safe and affordable water supply and the absence of an effective wastewater sanitation system not only adds to their daily suffering but also poses a health and safety risk.

To understand the complexity of these challenges, it is interesting to look at the Ain Ghazal wastewater and sewage collection and treatment system that was established by the government in 1960s near Amman.

The interactive maps in this section provide an insight into various aspects of water availability and use in Jordan

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%).

If the water issue is not urgently addressed, the outlook for the future is catastrophic. Gaza’s growing population needs water and the aquifer can no longer meet demand. It will take decades to reverse the damage to the aquifer, but we must to everything we can to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Gaza’s water crisis has been steadily worsening over recent decades. The area’s only source of fresh water is the Coastal Aquifer, a groundwater basin that runs the length of the Gaza Strip and along part of the Israeli coast.