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Water is the most vital resource on Earth, sustaining all life forms, and it is also the most threatened by climate change and anthropogenic activities. This situation is even more urgent in water-scarce regions like the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) due to water scarcity and increasing demands. Managing these water resources sustainability requires accurate information on water availability and utilization.Water Accounting is the systematic acquisition, analysis, and communication of information relating to water stocks and fluxes in natural, disturbed, or heavily engineered environments (FAO, 2016). It helps decision-makers understand problems in river basins, identify their drivers, quantify water availability, form proper decisions, and monitor their results over time. Water Accounting Plus (WA+) utilizes open-access spatial data for the analyses, allowing visualizing spatial and temporal trends and patterns. While analyses tools are being refined and made accessible for all, it has not been fully adopted in the MENA, and its implementation is limited to one-off studies.This paper explores the type of information used/ needed by decision-makers to address the most pertinent water problems in the MENA region through a focused literature review. This was contrasted by the information provided by WA+. Because water problems are context-specific, a more detailed analysis was done for Jordan using semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders.The results show that the most used information for the assessments in the region is precipitation, river discharge, surface and groundwater stocks at a monthly time scale. However, other aspects such as actual water consumption and losses are essential but not readily available and are therefore estimated using many assumptions. The WA+ framework, by utilizing spatial and temporal RS-based information, can support a systematic quantification of water consumption and losses and helps fill such information gaps. However, supporting decision-making requires more, from assessing the impact of climate change to informing proper water management decisions. Therefore, it is critical to underpin WA+ with scientifically sound hydrological models that can simulate future water fluxes and stocks and test different management interventions using scenario analysis.

Water resources are essential for human consumption and food production. The extraction and delivery of water resources are highly dependent on energy. Hence water, energy and food security are inextricably linked, and this nexus constitutes a major global societal challenge. Furthermore, globally, irrigation constitutes around 70% of our freshwater resources, rising to 90% in developing countries. There are over 300 million drinking water and irrigation ponds globally where 90% of the world's standing irrigation water resides. There is a need to conserve such resources, considering more than two thirds of the world's population are currently experiencing water stress. Hence, this work tackles the conservation of such resources addressing two important issues related to energy and water, thereby addressing elements of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its considered approach is the use of floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) technology implemented on irrigation reservoirs to conserve water by reducing evaporation losses whilst providing sustainable electricity at enhanced yield that can be utilised locally. For the study, we selected an arid and water stressed region of Jordan where real-world water and energy consumption data were available. Various floating PV (FPV) system configurations were modelled for installation on an irrigation reservoir where currently no FPV exists. A fixed tilt 300 kWp FPV system was found to be the optimum design in terms of water savings, energy yield, economics, and reductions in CO2 emissions. Standard floating PV was deemed the preferred option compared to ground-mounted PV and FPV with tracking and/or active cooling. System payback period for the recommended design was 8.4 years with an annual greenhouse gas emission reduction of ∼ 141TCO2. For the considered site, around 12,700 m3 of water can be saved annually or 42% savings when compared to the uncovered reservoir. This research has wider applicability to other arid regions such as Africa, Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent.