Jordan is one of the driest countries in the world. Most households receive water only once or twice a week, and the country is rapidly running through its existing supply of renewable water. Pollution, a changing climate, and waves of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in recent years are putting an even greater strain on the country’s water resources. By 2025, is it possible that each Jordanian may have one-tenth of the world’s average supply of water per person.
It is hard to overstate how perilous of a problem this is for Jordan. Clean water is of course critical to life, but it is also necessary for farmers to grow the crops we eat and for businesses to manufacture the goods we use (it can take as much as 2,700 liters of water to produce a single cotton t-shirt). The dwindling supply of water in Jordan will send the price of water and other goods up and raise costs for families and businesses.
Wars have been fought over water sources for millennia, and shrinking water supplies can represent a serious security concern. In fact, some recent research suggests that in neighboring Syria, a multi-year drought may have exacerbated political differences leading up to the civil war. But there is tremendous reason to be hopeful in Jordan.
I just returned from an amazing trip where I had the opportunity to see first-hand how the United States is working with Jordan to transform the country’s access to clean water.
In the process, Jordan is becoming a stronger, more stable partner for the U.S., opening up opportunities for U.S. businesses and supporting U.S. national security as an important partner in a critical region of the world.
I had the opportunity to see first-hand how the United States is working with Jordan to transform the country’s access to clean water.
I lead the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation, and we are a partner in a series of innovative, large-scale projects that the Jordanian government is undertaking to preserve water. Our projects focus on a resource that most of us try to avoid: wastewater. Recognizing that dirty water can be cleaned and recycled — just like plastic bottles or cans — the government is improving infrastructure in Jordan across the entire lifecycle of water: collecting wastewater, cleaning and recycling it, and then delivering it back to the fields so that drinking water can be preserved for people’s homes.
At the heart of this plan is the As-Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant, the most modern treatment facility in the region. The massive plant, which was completed in 2008 with support from USAID, cleans more than 70 percent of all wastewater in Jordan but is already nearing capacity. So the government teamed up with MCC and private companies — often a challenge in large scale development projects like this — to expand the plant and sustain it for at least 25 years. Today, the facility supplies more than 10 percent of the country’s clean water resources.
I visited the plant last week and was amazed by the technology behind it. All I could smell was the desert breeze thanks to a cutting-edge odor control system. Waste that previously polluted the Zarqa River and contaminated clean water sources is now treated according to the highest international standards. And underscoring its environmentally friendly mission, the plant is powered primarily by the wastewater it treats — 80 percent of its electricity comes from hydraulic turbines and gas turbines powered by biogas.
But one of the most exciting aspects of MCC and Jordan’s partnership doesn’t rely on technology. Rather, it depends on engaging people and communities to sustain water conservation efforts for years to come. The American people are helping to provide much-needed new and improved water infrastructure through agencies like MCC, but the people of Jordan are responsible for the future of their water resources.
That’s why MCC is funding a program run by Jordanians to raise awareness about water maintenance best practices and help with repairs in more than 4,500 households. Personal consumption makes up nearly one-third of all water consumption in Jordan, so by making even small changes in their homes, Jordanians can make a big difference in their country’s water supply.
The program focuses on one group in particular that has untapped potential to drive progress: women. Since women are most often the collectors, users and managers of water in the home, they play an outsized role when it comes to water management. The program targets women for outreach and training, so Jordanians can better care for their home water resources. And by training women in plumbing, the program empowers women with job skills that enable them to increase their incomes while, at the same time, helping their community.
Empowering women in the developing world is a humanitarian priority, but people often overlook that it is also an economic opportunity.
I met with these women on my trip, and it was incredible to hear their stories about breaking through economic and cultural barriers. Empowering women in the developing world is a humanitarian priority, but people often overlook that it is also an economic opportunity.
In Jordan, the percentage of women in the labor force is roughly one fourth of the rate for men. The women I met are good examples of the kind of economic potential that could be unleashed if more women joined the labor force — some have already found jobs and started their own businesses.
One of those women said that her daughter had previously been skeptical of her mother’s choice to work in plumbing. Now, she says she wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
Investing in large-scale industrial water treatment plants like the one MCC helped to expand will go a long way toward preserving clean water in Jordan. But it will be up to people like this woman and her daughter to preserve Jordan’s water resources and ensure a stable and prosperous future for generations to come.
