Jordan’s Water Sector—Alarming Issues and Future

Jordan has, to a satisfactory degree, managed its scarce water resources, especially during the last few decades due to the regional conflicts and refugee waves hosted in the country since 1948. The waves of refugees in 1967, and after), returnees from the Gulf States 1991/92, during the first Gulf war), Lebanon (1970s and 1980s), Iraq (2003 and after, and lastly Syria (2011-2017 have as well severely impacted the management of water resources which has negatively impacted the water sector especially in terms of allocating new water resources to satisfy the needs of the country. In addition, shortsightedness of some water policy-makers has led to the deteriorations in the water resources quantitatively and qualitatively, which has resulted in social and economic discomfort of the population. In this article, the shortcomings in the water sector are addressed, such as setting an end to groundwater overexploitation, providing water to the population in a continuous way, improving water use efficiency in agricultural uses and the way forward is delineated based on a critical judgment of the actual situation of the water sector in order to reach at a more robust water sector with all its positive impacts on the social, economic and political life in the country.