Ministry of Water and Irrigation
Historical development of the water sector: The water sector in Jordan has received great attention from the Hashemite leadership since the era of independence, because the development of the water sector is the main pillar for the development of all development sectors in Jordan. His Majesty King Abdullah II focused on the issue of water and considered it one of the priorities of the successive government’s work during his blessed reign, given that it represents a basic need for the survival, growth and development of life and a basic element of development in Jordan. The water sector has gone through several intertwined stages that witnessed a tangible development in all water services despite the challenges facing this sector, especially with the beginning of the nineties, represented by the scarcity and weakness of its ability to meet the increasing needs day after day, which were imposed by the natural and unnatural increase in the population, the rise in the standard of living, and the economic, social and tourism development in Jordan. At the time, water services in the Kingdom, especially in the domestic sector, were carried out in a traditional manner and from Through the collection wells and spring waters, which used to be the main source of water for agricultural purposes, water services covered more than 98 percent of the Kingdom’s population, and sewage services exceeded 63 percent of citizens, as the Ministry’s programs and plans work to increase this percentage to reach 70 percent in the coming years. Development of water institutions: Citizens, especially those who did not own collection wells, used to exert great effort and travel vast distances in order to obtain a limited amount of water from flowing springs and ponds, which were a source of water for citizens in the beginning. With the formation of municipalities in cities and villages, these institutions took over the process of distributing water to citizens, and the Ministry of Health, which was established in 1951, took over monitoring the quality of water and for the purposes of conducting water studies, digging wells, and providing water sources. For municipalities, some institutions concerned with the water sector were formed, such as the Central Water Authority, which was established in 1960. The Eastern Ghor Canal Authority was also established in 1959 to implement the first phase of the Yarmouk and Jordan Valley Project. The establishment of this authority came in line with the decisions of the League of Arab States and the water projects proposed at that time regarding the division of the waters of the Yarmouk Basin and the Jordan Valley. For political reasons, after the Arab Summit in 1964, these two authorities were abolished and in 1965 the Natural Resources Authority was established, which included the two authorities in addition to a new department for geological research. This was accompanied by the establishment of another institution to exploit the waters of the Jordan River, namely (the Rafed Corporation), which adopted the Khalid Dam project and the Jordan Valley project, but these institutions were not successful due to the 1967 war.
