242
15.3.2.2 Exploiting Scope for Indispensable Demand
and Supply-Side Effi ciency Measures
Offi cials and donors recognise that opportunities exist to improve effi ciency on both
demand and supply sides. Some would be politically diffi cult to exploit, but all
could potentially fi nd suffi cient support to drive them through and are technically
and economically feasible. As a package they could bring short to long-term
benefi ts – conserving low-cost supplies, protecting aquifers, enhancing adaptive
capacity to climate change, raising additional revenue and making additional water
available at lower cost than development of new sources:
Non-Revenue Water Reduction
A well-recognised opportunity lies in addressing ineffi cient supply in the municipalities and improving performance to standards that would reduce NRW at the
Miyahuna and YWC networks. Politically, the government is committed to NRW
reduction and Jordanians understand that failure to address the public health problem of leakages could result in political unrest. In addition leakage reductions and
pressure controls at supply networks would reportedly be one of the most costeffective measures to increase water supply and raise revenue (MWI 2009 ; MWI
and WRG 2011 ). Failure to improve the Amman network (Miyahuna) would raise
the cost of Disi water from JD 0.85/m
3 to around JD 1.75/m
3 . Technically, leakage
reduction would be a low cost-high volume move (Salameh 2007 , p. 9). Technical
leakages account for around 50 % of water supplies lost to NRW, but experts say
network rehabilitation and improved management could reduce these losses by
50 %. On this basis, starting at Miyahuna and YWC, an annual saving of 19.5 × 10
6 m
3
(based on current production) could be achieved (USAID 2012 , p. 32). A countrywide program would require further analysis, but water volumes of around
40 × 10
6 m
3 annually could potentially be saved by 2025, a signifi cant contribution
to projected requirements. Theft should be tackled in parallel, with the WAJ coordinating closely with the police on law enforcement, and a public education program
launched.
The USAID is likely to support NRW projects, but the high cost of infrastructure
makes essential a new US-Jordan understanding on USAID cash transfers to infrastructure projects and their ties to the fulfi lment of conditions precedent.
17 Inter alia,
conditions would need to cover government moves to rein in theft and shut illegal
wells, the extension of PSP to more utilities with tighter performance-based
management contracts and tariff restructuring.
17 Echoing views expressed to the author in 2010, the (USAID 2011 ) found USAID/Jordan had not
developed conditions precedent to ensure sustainability of its program activities since 2010.
Criticism focused on the failure to address agricultural water use.
V. Yorke
15.3.2.2 Exploiting Scope for Indispensable Demand
and Supply-Side Effi ciency Measures
Offi cials and donors recognise that opportunities exist to improve effi ciency on both
demand and supply sides. Some would be politically diffi cult to exploit, but all
could potentially fi nd suffi cient support to drive them through and are technically
and economically feasible. As a package they could bring short to long-term
benefi ts – conserving low-cost supplies, protecting aquifers, enhancing adaptive
capacity to climate change, raising additional revenue and making additional water
available at lower cost than development of new sources:
Non-Revenue Water Reduction
A well-recognised opportunity lies in addressing ineffi cient supply in the municipalities and improving performance to standards that would reduce NRW at the
Miyahuna and YWC networks. Politically, the government is committed to NRW
reduction and Jordanians understand that failure to address the public health problem of leakages could result in political unrest. In addition leakage reductions and
pressure controls at supply networks would reportedly be one of the most costeffective measures to increase water supply and raise revenue (MWI 2009 ; MWI
and WRG 2011 ). Failure to improve the Amman network (Miyahuna) would raise
the cost of Disi water from JD 0.85/m
3 to around JD 1.75/m
3 . Technically, leakage
reduction would be a low cost-high volume move (Salameh 2007 , p. 9). Technical
leakages account for around 50 % of water supplies lost to NRW, but experts say
network rehabilitation and improved management could reduce these losses by
50 %. On this basis, starting at Miyahuna and YWC, an annual saving of 19.5 × 10
6 m
3
(based on current production) could be achieved (USAID 2012 , p. 32). A countrywide program would require further analysis, but water volumes of around
40 × 10
6 m
3 annually could potentially be saved by 2025, a signifi cant contribution
to projected requirements. Theft should be tackled in parallel, with the WAJ coordinating closely with the police on law enforcement, and a public education program
launched.
The USAID is likely to support NRW projects, but the high cost of infrastructure
makes essential a new US-Jordan understanding on USAID cash transfers to infrastructure projects and their ties to the fulfi lment of conditions precedent.
17 Inter alia,
conditions would need to cover government moves to rein in theft and shut illegal
wells, the extension of PSP to more utilities with tighter performance-based
management contracts and tariff restructuring.
17 Echoing views expressed to the author in 2010, the (USAID 2011 ) found USAID/Jordan had not
developed conditions precedent to ensure sustainability of its program activities since 2010.
Criticism focused on the failure to address agricultural water use.
V. Yorke