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Water in Jordan is scarce, yet key to its economic development. A fast growing population and expanding agricultural sector create demands for new water resources. We present a Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model for the Jordan Valley (JV) to evaluate alternative water supply options. WEAP accommodates the extensive primary and secondary spatial data sets behind our empirical analysis and allows the simulation of various water supplys and demand scenarios. This paper reports on the implementation and calibration of the WEAP model against dam operating rules, showing that it is possible to reproduce historical dam volumes accurately enough by analysis. The paper then describes five alternative water supply scenarios for the JV: business-as-usual, increasing treated wastewater in irrigation, climate change, and two combined scenarios—climate change with increasing reuse, and altered patterns of agriculture to calculate the impact on the demand-supply gap by the year 2050.

Pressing water scarcity in Jordan rapidly increases the demands of marginal water resources for the agricultural sector. Water management studies reveal that no single source could fully solve the nation’s water shortage and many integrated actions are needed to ensure water availability, suitability and sustainability. Yet, among these options treated wastewater has the largest potential to augment water supply in the near future, thereby narrowing the gap between available freshwater and total demand. Indeed, treated wastewater could be a valuable source for irrigation in the agricultural sector and an increasing percentage of irrigated areas, especially in the Jordan Valley, are currently using treated wastewater. With a fast growing population and expansion of the irrigated areas to meet food demand, the pressure on water resources in Jordan remains of imminent importance. Hence, an urgent call to analyze the current and potential role of treated wastewater seems justified. Under the umbrella of the project on the Sustainable Management of Available Water Resources with Innovative Technologies (SMART) funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research in Germany, an investigation has been carried out in the Jordan Valley to estimate the current wastewater reuse quantities and the potential to increase its utility for agricultural production. In general, the reuse as percentage of total treatment is applied for national and international comparisons. Yet, this index is of limited use for policy decisions as it does not reflect potentialities of wastewater use. Therefore, this study introduces a wastewater reuse index (WRI) that reflects the actual proportion of wastewater reused from the total generated wastewater. We found that the WRI in Jordan steadily increased from 30% in 2004 to 38 in 2007. Efficient use of treated wastewater requires the application of new technologies in Jordan like dwellings connected to the sewer system, decentralization of treatment plants to rural and urban settlements and prevention of high evaporation rates from stabilization ponds.

In eastern Mediterranean countries including Palestine, the demand on water is growing rapidly due to rapid population growth, urbanization and socioeconomic development. Both the West Bank and Gaza Strip are facing a series of waste water and sanitation-related problems, large-scale discharge of untreated waste water, leaking of collected waste water from sewer systems and cesspits, water treatment plants that do not function or function only badly and uncontrolled reuse of untreated waste water by the irrigation sector. This paper has four objectives: 1)To demonstrate the link between waste water and health and show the profound influence ofwater supply and quality on public health in Gaza. 2) To highlight the environmental and health impact resulting from poor waste water treatment in Palestine. 3) To describe the basic classification of water-related diseases in Palestine, mainly Gaza Strip. 4)To describe how improvement and proper management in water treatment will lead to improvements in health and a reduction in morbidity and mortality rates. The paper also assesses the environmental and human health impacts associated with the current practices of waste water management and sanitation in Gaza, especially: Soil and groundwater pollution resulting from discharge of untreated waste water; Direct human health risks as a result of exposure to waste water in open systems; Indirect human health risks as a result of consumption of polluted crops and fish. In this paper I focus on the Gaza Strip only. Currently, about 70%-80% of the domestic waste water produced in Gaza is discharged into the environment without treatment, either directly at the source, after collection from cesspits or through the effluent of the sewerage system or overloaded treatment plants. Most of the waste water flows into the sea; a small part infiltrates and contaminates the soil and the groundwater. Moreover, the discharge causes public health risks through direct exposure as well as through reuse of untreated waste water on irrigated lands. Diseases related to contaminated drinking water (poor water treatment) constitute a major burden on the health of people in Palestine and are among the leading causes of ill-health. Sustainable health, especially for children, is not possible without an effective and adequate water supply and healthy water treatment.