Evaluation of non-conventional water resources supply in Jordan

The severity of the water problem in Jordan was realized in the beginning of the 1980s. Many strategies and measures were proposed to alleviate and overcome this serious problem. These mainly include supply augmentation measures through constructing of various hydraulic structures and groundwater exploitation. In addressing supply management, it was concluded that no single supply could remedy the nation’s water shortage. Rather many integrated actions are needed to ensure water availability, suitability, and sustainability. Among those options is the development of new water resources such as brackish water. It was proposed that desalinated brackish water could increase water supply in different regions of the country. This paper describes the development of a decision-support system for the evaluation and selection of potential non-conventional water resources supply; these include desalination of brackish and seawater, treated waste water, importation of water across boundaries and water harvesting. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), it was concluded that water desalination was ranked the highest, i.e., the most promising resource, followed by water harvesting.

There are good prospects for non-conventional water resources, such as the effluents from waste water treatment plants, desalination and water harvesting. Desalination of brackish water offers a potential for water supply enhancement in Jordan. When evaluating various nonconventional water resources available in Jordan, water desalination was ranked the highest. The criteria under which multicriteria analyses were performed were economic, technical, availability, reliability, and environmental sustainability. Further studies and training need to be carried out in the near future in order to promote and enforce the technology transfer in the field of desalina-tion among the interested groups, especially governmental institutions, in Jordan.