245
desalination) are taken into account, signifi cant additional supplies will be required
to narrow remaining defi cits – whether from desalination, regional conveyance or
transboundary solutions; and if these projects are to succeed, they will require international involvement – funding, provision of data, legal frameworks and guarantees.
Meanwhile the global fi nancial crisis, climate change, Arab uprisings and confl ict in
Syria and Iraq have transformed the political landscape, pushing Jordan’s allies to
reshape Middle East policies in which quid pro quos in exchange for the political
and material support they extend will play a part. In short, past circumstances underpinning Jordan’s rentier state are falling away and unilateral “business-as- usual”
water policies based on it no longer hold. National leaders recognise the need radically to rethink how they address bulk-water supply and regional cooperation, if
Jordan is to fi nd a path to a water-secure future.
The government’s preferred option has been desalination on its own coast. In
December 2012, in a changed approach refl ecting national interest, it refocused
on the long-studied RSDS Conveyance Project, having decided to “scale down”
its ambitious but unaffordable Jordan Red Sea Project (JRSP) in favour of a
70 × 10
6 m
3 /year desalination plant near Aqaba (Namrouqa 2012 ). The plant,
which experts say is technically feasible if built north of the airport, will be
designed to meet requirements for growth in the south over the medium term
and – as agreed in December 2013 with Israel and the PA – transboundary demand
in Israel and Palestine (see below). With its regional cooperative aspects, funding
is likely to be forthcoming. However, discharge of the brine is problematic:
Environmentalists argue against piping brine to the Dead Sea. On the other hand,
any plan to discharge brine in the Gulf of Aqaba would need a positive environmental assessment and a mandate from riparian states.
22 The alternative of distributing brine in the desert requires study.
Jordan hoped the new plant would serve as the fi rst phase of the mega-RSDS
Conveyance Project. This latter project by virtue of Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian
participation, would likely have attracted international funding, permitting Jordan
to sell a proportion of the more than 370 × 10
6 m
3 /year of water earmarked for it at
prices affordable to Jordanians. Moreover, though not publicly discussed by
decision- makers, it could have secured these outcomes without the government having to implement politically diffi cult water and economic reforms that alternative
solutions would require. The recent World Bank-funded RSDS feasibility study
raised questions over the project’s technical feasibility, however, and environmentalist opposition now points to its potential abandonment. Jordan is thus in need of
a Plan B for its long-term bulk supply, which has led some to resuscitate the politically diffi cult option of conveyance of desalinated water from the Mediterranean
coast. But there are regional alternatives to this, as discussed below.
22 Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and four other riparian states are members of the Regional
Organisation for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden which is
committed to conservation of coastal and marine environments.
15 Jordan’s Shadow State and Water Management: Prospects for Water Security…
desalination) are taken into account, signifi cant additional supplies will be required
to narrow remaining defi cits – whether from desalination, regional conveyance or
transboundary solutions; and if these projects are to succeed, they will require international involvement – funding, provision of data, legal frameworks and guarantees.
Meanwhile the global fi nancial crisis, climate change, Arab uprisings and confl ict in
Syria and Iraq have transformed the political landscape, pushing Jordan’s allies to
reshape Middle East policies in which quid pro quos in exchange for the political
and material support they extend will play a part. In short, past circumstances underpinning Jordan’s rentier state are falling away and unilateral “business-as- usual”
water policies based on it no longer hold. National leaders recognise the need radically to rethink how they address bulk-water supply and regional cooperation, if
Jordan is to fi nd a path to a water-secure future.
The government’s preferred option has been desalination on its own coast. In
December 2012, in a changed approach refl ecting national interest, it refocused
on the long-studied RSDS Conveyance Project, having decided to “scale down”
its ambitious but unaffordable Jordan Red Sea Project (JRSP) in favour of a
70 × 10
6 m
3 /year desalination plant near Aqaba (Namrouqa 2012 ). The plant,
which experts say is technically feasible if built north of the airport, will be
designed to meet requirements for growth in the south over the medium term
and – as agreed in December 2013 with Israel and the PA – transboundary demand
in Israel and Palestine (see below). With its regional cooperative aspects, funding
is likely to be forthcoming. However, discharge of the brine is problematic:
Environmentalists argue against piping brine to the Dead Sea. On the other hand,
any plan to discharge brine in the Gulf of Aqaba would need a positive environmental assessment and a mandate from riparian states.
22 The alternative of distributing brine in the desert requires study.
Jordan hoped the new plant would serve as the fi rst phase of the mega-RSDS
Conveyance Project. This latter project by virtue of Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian
participation, would likely have attracted international funding, permitting Jordan
to sell a proportion of the more than 370 × 10
6 m
3 /year of water earmarked for it at
prices affordable to Jordanians. Moreover, though not publicly discussed by
decision- makers, it could have secured these outcomes without the government having to implement politically diffi cult water and economic reforms that alternative
solutions would require. The recent World Bank-funded RSDS feasibility study
raised questions over the project’s technical feasibility, however, and environmentalist opposition now points to its potential abandonment. Jordan is thus in need of
a Plan B for its long-term bulk supply, which has led some to resuscitate the politically diffi cult option of conveyance of desalinated water from the Mediterranean
coast. But there are regional alternatives to this, as discussed below.
22 Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and four other riparian states are members of the Regional
Organisation for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden which is
committed to conservation of coastal and marine environments.
15 Jordan’s Shadow State and Water Management: Prospects for Water Security…