Chronic water scarcity is one of the key obstacles to Jordan"s development. Efforts to reform the supply situation in recent years have been outweighed by the effects of a growing population and high demand. This rapid population growth, along with agricultural expansion and the impacts of global climate change, have increased the pressure on Jordan"s scarce water resources, which have been heavily overused for years. The effects of climate change will significantly reduce the available water resources over the next 20 years (15% by 2040). Also, energy costs for the water sector have increased with the costs of operation reaching more than 50 per cent of the water sector bill in 2021.
In the new Jordanian Water Strategy (National Water Strategy 2023 - 2040), measures have been formulated for more efficient management of water resources. Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ), and Water Utilities (WU) now have binding targets for reducing energy costs and water losses (2% per year).
The main objective of the Strong Water Utilities (SWU) project is to improve Jordanian water sector main actors" capacity to reduce water losses and energy consumption as well as wastewater management and rural drinking water supply.
The SWU aims also to establish processes for reducing water losses by coordinating tasks across responsible units and providing expert advice for standardized operations in WUs. This includes setting up integrated data management tools (for example Technical Asset Management). Also, institutionalize Energy Management System (EnMS) within WUs by improving the skills of professionals and managers within established energy units, continuing identification of measures for energy efficiency, and expanding EnMS (Horizontally by covering more facilities and different facility types, and vertically by anchoring processes in water sector).
Additionally, the SWU supports the improvement of wastewater treatment plants operation to be more effective in alignment of operations with the Technical Sustainable Management (TSM) standard. The SWU empowers women's groups in rural areas in Jordan to negotiate concrete measures with WUs to improve the water supply in their villages and support their implementation, helping them communicate their needs and develop community-specific solutions.
Consequently, the economic efficiency of water utilities and thus supply quality and safety in the sector are increased.
The relevant actors, i.e., the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), WAJ and WUs are strengthened in their respective roles and functions.
The project includes four major fields of action:
1. Water loss reduction (non-revenue water)
2. Sustainable Energy Management (ISO 50001 EnMS)
3. Improving Wastewater treatment operation
4. Empowering women in rural areas
The project will help to mitigate climate change by directly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The project also supports in improving the operations of the water utilities and internal planning and implementation processes towards less water loss and higher energy efficiency. Furthermore, through effective data management tools, the water sector will be enabled to monitor and evaluate its performance for optimisation.
With significant investments in infrastructure already ongoing or upcoming, essential pre-requisites are in place for the measures of the project to lead to lasting improvements. The current focus is on the sustainable establishment of the EnMS in the sector, with tailor-made capacity development measures for the specialists and managers of the energy units in WAJ and WUs to consolidate what has been achieved.
The introduction of digital tools supports the standardized and state-wide anchoring of NRW processes and energy management. Important prerequisites for the further improvement of the wastewater treatment plants operations at the technical level and replicating approaches to empower women from rural communities to participate in multi-stakeholder processes.

The Jordanian water sector plays a critical role in the nation"s development, serving as a vital resource for agriculture, industry, and domestic sides in the country. At a share of around 9% , the water sector is one of Jordan's largest single consumers of electricity, and the trend is rising. The energy cost is considered one of the big challenges as it is made up around half of the operation and maintenance cost of water and wastewater services in the sector . High rates of drinking water loss (over 50%), which can be traced back to combination of illegal use and connections on supply networks, vandalism and leakage , increase the pressure on water resources and significantly reduce the economic efficiency of the Jordanian water sector. Not forgetting the effects of climate change will significantly reduce the available water resources over the next 20 years (15% by 2040).
There are more than 1,000 water (pumping stations, water treatment plants, lifting stations, desalination plants, and wells) and wastewater facilities in the sector, distributed across the country with operational responsibility for these facilities distributed under three main Water Utilities (WU"s) (Yarmouk in Northern governorates, Miyahuna in middle governorates and Aqaba in Southern governorates), around 47% of these facilities are covered by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) which is considered the main source of master data (energy, water, and operational data). While it is planned to reach 100% coverage within coming 3 years, dealing with data within the sector is still a major challenge! Whether dynamic or static, end-to-end data journey from its sources (field meters and sensors), to transmitting it by local RTU or PLC through communication channels (wired, wireless or even satellite) to SCADA centers, store it and process it in various database and finally interpret data according to used system by the end user (Operational by SCADA or technical by enterprise resource planning (ERP)).
This paly a vital role in the efforts of standardized and state-wide anchoring of NRW processes and energy management.
GIZ acknowledges the different dimensions of Jordan"s water sector challenges. Consequently, German development cooperation will continue to offer support through short and medium-term oriented activities as well as long-term oriented measures aiming at efficient management of water resources to secure the future water supply of the country.
The scope of work will be divided into three main work packages, where each package targeted specific items (total of 5 sites: three water companies, water authority of Jordan and Jordan valley authority).
WP 1 - titled "Water loss reduction (non-revenue water)", aims to institutionalize processes to reduce water losses in the responsible units of the ministry of water and irrigation and the Water Utilities (WU"s). WP 2 - titled "Sustainable Energy Management (ISO 50001 EnMS)" aims to institutionalize energy management in the energy units of Water Authority of Jordan and WU"s. WP 3 - titled "Improving Wastewater treatment operation", aims to improve the basis for the operation of wastewater treatment plants in terms of environmental compatibility and technical standards.

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