Challenges to Sustainable Water Management in Jordan

Water crisis in Jordan is the most critical common limitation to the country’s financial development and advancement. The crisis is exacerbating with time, because of the quick increase in population that is associated with sudden refugee fluxes and because of the inefficient use of water which both have made exceptional demands on water resources. The importance of this paper lies in estimating the effectiveness of technical water management and assessing the extent of management capacity in the reduction of water scarcity in the Kingdom of Jordan. Despite the governmental efforts to manage the country’s limited water resources and the relentless search for alternative supplies, the adopted political, financial, and technical responses are still limited to maintain a balance between demand and supply. Several of the inspected adaptation measures include desalination, reuse of treated wastewater and greywater, storm water collection, rationale/efficient water use, among others. The results indicated that these measures can reduce the impact of water crisis; however, they are not enough to compensate for the kingdom’s future demands and for a better financial development. Accordingly, only mega-projects are preferred which may sound the only solution to escape the bottleneck of the crisis. A multidimensional incorporation of all water related parties at all levels of the citizens, the government, and politicians is required. It is important to direct the policies of the water sector towards water resilience and governance. One of the most important actions to consider is to make proactive and contingency plans enhanced by the policies and legal frameworks at the national level to ensure a sustainable water resilience and governance.