Jordan and the US on Wednesday signed two grant agreements worth $166 million to rehabilitate Amman’s second main water resource and install smart metres to slash water loss.
Minister of Water and Irrigation Munir Oweis and USAID Mission Director in Jordan Nancy Eslick signed the two agreements, which aim at implementing the goals of Jordan’s 2016-2025 national water strategy that seeks to generate additional water amounts and reduce Jordan’s water loss from the current 43 per cent to 25 per cent by the year 2025.
“The plant’s operational and pumping systems will be revamped as new, energy-efficient pumps will be installed for pumping water from the Jordan Valley, the lowest point on Earth, to Amman,” Oweis said during the signing ceremony.
The $125 million Zara-Maeen Water Treatment Plant, which provides the capital with 45 million cubic metres of water annually, was completed in 2007. The project was designed to increase potable water supplies to the capital and the Dead Sea tourist areas by 40 per cent, benefitting 2.5 million people.
The Zara-Maeen facilities, 74 per cent of which are funded by USAID, treat saline water collected from three nearby wadis — Mujib, Zara and Maeen — which are delivered to the site under a separately funded Jordan Valley Authority project.
