Jordan, one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, utilizes innovative solutions, with the help of U.S. aid, that lead to poverty reduction, improved livelihoods, and strengthened national resilience in a fragile regional context.

Water Access in Jordan

UNICEF estimates that water in Jordan is available weekly in urban areas and biweekly in more rural communities. Annually renewed water sources provide only about 90 cubic meters of water to each person every year; this is less than one-fifth of the severe water scarcity threshold as defined by the Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator. By 2040, these provisions are estimated to fall to 60 cubic meters per person yearly.

Limited frash water in the region, which the neighbouring territories of Israel and Palestine also change, including the rapid expansion of the population, are one of the main reasons for such extreme water scarcity.

Water as Politics

Access to clean water is a stabilizing force for nations. Without access to safe, clean water, Jordanians do not have means for hydration or basic hygiene, heightening vulnerability to disease and damaging the nation’s overall public health.

Without an increase in Jordanian water supply, the current growth of the agriculture, industry, and energy sectors could face disruption, restricting increases in GDP and employment rates.

Currently, only about 15.5% of Jordanian women participate in the workforce. This may be due to the fact that women and children bear the majority of water-collection responsibilities. If water were more readily available closer to home, women and children could spend less time traveling to collection sites. Consequently, more women could participate in the workforce and children could spend more time in school.

Public health, national employment levels and workforce availability, as well as education, are key components of a nation’s politics and among the main concerns of its governance. These elements, linked to water security, impact the stability of the nation and highlight the importance of water politics for poverty reduction in Jordan.

Innovative Solutions

In looking for solutions to water scarcity in Jordan, UNICEF found that the country loses around 52% of available water as non-revenue water, through leaks, theft and billing inefficiencies. In 2022, the Jordanian government announced a nationwide plan aimed at combating non-revenue water loss. With a 2040 deadline, the state aims to narrow non-revenue water to less than 25% nationally, according to the International Trade Administration (IDA).

One of the ongoing projects directed at waste reduction through systems upgrades, funded largely by USAID, involves the implementation of Smart Metering, Monitoring, and Controlling Systems, IDA reports. This change to the water network in Jordan could allow the government to resolve leaks more rapidly and prevent theft through unauthorized access. By reducing waste and ensuring fair distribution, these innovations support poverty reduction in Jordan by making reliable water access more equitable across communities.

Jordan has also found a solution for the lack of freshwater available in the region. Utilizing reverse osmosis technology, the nation is currently undergoing an ambitious international project: the Aqaba-Amman Desalinization and Conveyance Project, also known as the National Water Carrier Project.

The Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation plans to use reverse osmosis to convert seawater from the Gulf of Aqaba into clean, safe freshwater. The proposed desalinization plant will be large enough to convert 300 million cubic meters of seawater yearly and will attach to a 450-kilometer (roughly 280-mile) transmission and distribution system that reaches Jordan’s capital, Amman.

Jordan’s Water, Everyone’s World

Saroj Kumar Jha, a Global Water Director for the World Bank, says that “Without water, economies falter, food production collapses, and public health deteriorates.” This statement can also go a step further: without water, nations are vulnerable to violence.

While discussed in terms of the United States’ own water supply, generalizations of the Center of Naval Analyses’ Military Advisory Board’s findings remain the same in Jordan: water scarcity can create civil unrest and localized violence, and the stress of water scarcity creates an environment more supportive of government agitators and violent extremist organizations.

For Jordan, water is more than survival– it is foundational to peace, economic progress and resilience in a volatile region. U.S. aid and innovative projects that expand water access are not simply engineering solutions; they are strategies of poverty reduction in Jordan that lift families out of cycles of deprivation and create pathways for health, education, and work.

Because most of Jordan’s limited freshwater resources are shared with Palestine and Israel, water scarcity easily spills over into regional tensions. Addressing water-focused poverty reduction in Jordan, therefore, reduces not only domestic vulnerability but also the risk of resource-driven instability across the Middle East.

– Alyse Rhee

Alyse is based in Winter Garden, FL, USA and focuses on Good News and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr