TC Jordan: Management of Groundwater Resources
Report of the project:
Background:
Since the 1960s, Jordan’s population has almost decupled from less than one million to nearly ten million today, which results in a huge pressure on Jordan's water resources. Over the same period, water usage has largely increased due to economic growth as well as for agricultural irrigation. Today, Jordan is covering its water demand by up to 70 % from groundwater, which is largely fossil or has very little recharge. Additionally, groundwater quality has decreased over the past decades due to overuse, unsustainable use of fertilizers in agriculture as well as improper storage and treatment of waste and wastewater.
Mountain landscape in Jordan
Source: BGR
The aim of the project "Management of Groundwater Resources" is to strengthen the national authorities, especially the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), in the assessment and management of the available groundwater resources of Jordan. This includes enabling the MWI to assess the economic viability of groundwater extraction under different usage scenarios, in order to develop different options for long-term water supply in the kingdom.
In the light of the project activities, the BGR project team works closely with the MWI, the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) and the Jordanian water companies.
The following activities are to be addressed in the project:
- Domestic well management
- Economic viability of groundwater extraction
- Monitoring of groundwater quality
- Support for the Ministry's Public Relations Department
Hydrogeological map of Jordan
Domestic well management:
The component strives to increase the efficiency in water pumping through improved well management and preventative well maintenance. This includes strengthening the institutional structures, which allows the water companies to protect the water resources and to supervise drinking water wells. The extraction of water is currently still very energy- and cost-intensive. In particular, BGR supports the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) and the Ministry's Utility Performance Management Unit (UPMU) in their regulation of water companies. In addition, the cooperation and transfer of knowledge between the water companies in the areas of well operation and maintenance are to be improved.
Economic viability of groundwater extraction:
The aim of this component is to enable the MWI to economically assess various options for water extraction in the future. The MWI with support of BGR captures data in order to introduce the economic component as an important aspect in water production planning.
After transferring the determined data into the Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP), which is already established as a planning tool in the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the MWI can use the data to examine alternatives for future water supply, such as seawater desalination or desalination of brackish groundwater.
Monitoring of groundwater quality:
The MWI and the WAJ are to ensure the systematic nationwide monitoring of the quality of Jordanian groundwater resources in the long term. To this end, their laboratories are to introduce and plan the monitoring of groundwater quality by institutionalising the entire process chain of sampling, transport, analysis, evaluation and interpretation. The laboratory staff should evaluate the hydrogeochemical data collected and publish the results regularly. A particular focus of this field of action is on practical case studies at sites with specific hydrogeochemical issues.
Abu Mahjoub groundwater comic
Support for the Ministry’s Public Relations Department:
The objective of this project activity is to support the MWI in improving the knowledge of policy-makers, main water users and the public about the groundwater situation in Jordan. Although the scarcity of water in the Kingdom is very well known, awareness about the groundwater resources in particular is not very widespread. For internal and inter-agency cooperation, the provision of scientific data on groundwater is a basic requirement for better policy coherence. Taking into account the great challenges of the Jordanian water sector, such as social inequalities in water supply and illegal water withdrawals, MWI’s capacities to formulate evidence-based key messages and to carry out targeted public relations campaigns, need to be strategically aligned and optimised. The establishment of an advisory board consisting of representatives from ministries, parliament, the media, the private sector and universities, intends to increase both the demand for and provision of reliable groundwater information
Partners:
- Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI)
- Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ)
Results of former project phases:
Literature:
Maps: (We recommend to download the files first and then to open them, as not every browser displays the maps adequately)
- Simplified Hydrogeological Map of Jordan 1:650,000 (PDF, 59 MB)
- Cross Sections for the Hydrological Units in Jordan 1:322,000 (PDF, 15 MB)
- Depth to Groundwater in the Deep Sandstone Aquifer System 2017, 1:650,000 (PDF, 53 MB)
- Depth to Groundwater in the A1/A2, A4 and A1/A6 Aquifer System 2017, 1:500,000 (PDF, 57 MB)
- Depth to Groundwater in the A7/B2 Aquifer 2017, 1:650,000 (PDF, 59 MB)
- Difference in Groundwater Levels of the A7/B2 Aquifer between 1995 and 2017, 1:650,000 (PDF, 59 MB)
Films:
- Groundwater resources of Jordan – Current status and outlook
- How to make the invisible visible – Communication on groundwater