AMMAN — The Jordan Strategy Forum (JSF) on Monday sounded the alarm over the Kingdom’s worsening water scarcity, releasing a policy paper that outlines structural challenges facing the sector and proposes measures to safeguard future supplies.

In its paper, titled "Water: Jordan’s Options amid the Supply and Usage Crisis", the forum noted that climate change and population growth are driving global water demand higher, with consumption expected to rise between 20 and 30 per cent by 2050.

The JSF warned that such higher demand would reduce renewable water resources per capita worldwide and heighten the risk to water security.

Jordan, already among the most water-poor countries in the world, recorded an annual per capita share of just 61 cubic metres of renewable freshwater in 2021, far below the absolute global water poverty line of 500 cubic metres.

If consumption patterns remain unchanged, that figure could drop to 43 cubic metres by 2100, the paper said.

The study attributed the Kingdom’s water crisis to pressures on supply and demand.

Groundwater, which provides 58 per cent of Jordan’s needs, has been “heavily” depleted due to excessive pumping, according to the paper.

Surface water, the second-largest source at 26 per cent, faces sharp seasonal fluctuations linked to climate change.

Meanwhile, storage levels at the Kingdom’s 14 dams stood at only 114 million cubic metres in 2022, or 32 per cent of their capacity, with losses sometimes exceeding 30 per cent annually due to shifting rainfall patterns, the JSF said.

The paper also pointed to external challenges, citing neighbouring countries’ failure to adhere to shared water agreements, which has cut Jordan’s allocations from the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers.

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