page_title: Water supply and sanitation in Jordan
section_title: Water reuse
hierarchical_section_title: Water supply and sanitation in Jordan / Water balance / Water resources / Water reuse
caption_attribution_description: English: The valley containing Wadi Musa and Petra
context_page_description: Water supply and sanitation in Jordan is characterized by severe water scarcity, which has been exacerbated by forced immigration as a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Six-Day War in 1967, the Gulf War of 1990, the Iraq War of 2003 and the Syrian Civil War since 2011. Jordan is considered as one of the ten most water scarce countries in the world. High population growth, the depletion of groundwater reserves and the impacts of climate change are likely to aggravate the situation in the future.
  The country's major surface water resources, the Jordan River and the Yarmouk River, are shared with Israel and Syria who leave only a small amount for Jordan. The Disi Water Conveyance Project from the non-renewable Disi aquifer to the capital Amman, opened in July 2013, increases available resources by about 12%. It is planned to bridge the remaining gap between demand and supply through increased use of reclaimed water and desalinated sea water to be provided through the Red Sea-Dead Sea canal.
  Despite Jordan's severe water scarcity, more than 97% of Jordanians have access to an improved water source and 93% have access to improved sanitation.
context_section_description: Water reuse is an increasingly important element in Jordan's water balance. Reuse of treated wastewater ( also called "reclaimed water") occurs both indirectly, after discharge of the effluent to a river and mixing with freshwater, and directly, e.g. without mixing with freshwater.
  Strategies and challenges. The increased use of reclaimed water is part of Jordan's national water strategy. As part of it, a strategy for pricing and marketing reclaimed water has been established. Extension workers from the Ministry of Agriculture use a computer-based information system to advise farmers on how to optimize their fertigation in light of the irrigation water quality, location, crop, soil type and other  factors. Despite these efforts, the majority of farmers in the Jordan Valley are not aware of the nutrient content of the reclaimed water, although experience from demonstration sites shows that using it, fertiliser expenditures can be reduced by 60%. One challenge for the reuse of wastewater is the fact that industries discharge untreated wastewater into the sewer system. However, this industrial wastewater contains heavy metals and other substances which the municipal wastewater treatment plants cannot remove.
  Standards. The Jordanian standard JS893:2006 restricts the direct re-use of treated domestic wastewater to crops that are not eaten raw. It sets different standards for various reuse categories such as cooked vegetables, parks & landscaping/roads in towns (Class A), fruit trees, sides of
  roads and green areas (Class B) and fodder & industrial crop & forest trees (Class C). Industrial Wastewater Standard Specification No 202/2007 complements the above standards, also distinguishing between different reuse categories.
  Furthermore, a Reuse Coordination Committee has been established. A  crop monitoring program confirmed that use of treated wastewater in Jordan meets the health-based target recommended by the WHO guidelines for the safe use of treated wastewater.
  Indirect reuse of reclaimed water from Greater Amman. The reclaimed water (treated wastewater) from the largest wastewater treatment plant in Jordan, As-Samra, flows through the Zarqa River into the King-Talal-Reservoir where it mixes with freshwater. From there it flows into the King-Abdullah-Canal in the Jordan Valley where it further mixes with freshwater. The diluted reclaimed water is reused on about 4,000 farms covering 10,000 hectares in the Southern part of the valley, mostly using drip irrigation.
  Direct reuse projects. According to one estimate, 1,500 ha were irrigated with reclaimed water in the vicinity of treatment plants as of 2009 in 15 locations, of which the biggest are near As-Samra (510 ha), Aqaba (208 ha), Ramtha (121 ha) and Wadi Musa (107 ha). Crops irrigated are forage crops and tree crops. One of the first pilot projects for direct reuse was implemented in Wadi Musa with support from USAID. Water was first used to irrigate a demonstration farm, and then the fields of nearby farmers. Another pilot project was initiated using wastewater from the small Wadi Hassan treatment plant to irrigate green spaces on the campus of the University of Irbid, and commercial fruit plantations. In most cases of direct reuse, the Water Authority of Jordan, the operator of most municipal wastewater treatment plants in Jordan, has concluded contracts with farmers. The total area irrigated under contracts with WAJ is 760 ha, or about half the total irrigated area. It is thus about 12 times smaller than the area irrigated with indirectly reclaimed water from the As-Samra plant in the Jordan Valley.
  Planned reuse of reclaimed water from Greater Irbid in the Jordan Valley. A major water reuse project is being planned to reuse water from three wastewater treatment plants in the area of Irbid in the North of Jordan through a project supported in the framework of Jordanian-German cooperation. As of 2006, only 14% of the wastewater from these plants was being reused. An explanation for this is that farmers in the Jordan Valley are reluctant to use the reclaimed water, wh
caption: Wadi Musa where the first pilot project for direct reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture in Jordan was implemented.
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