than residential water and sewer tariffs in the lowest consumption block. in areas served by public companies, as of 2015, the residential minimum charge was jd5.22/quarter for water and sewerage. this corresponds to an average water tariff of jd0.14/m3 and a sewer tariff of jd0.04/m3 for 18m3 per quarter. for a consumption level of 36m3 per quarter the average water and sewer tariff was jd0.24/m3 and jd0.14/m3 respectively. the tariff for each next m3 increases until it reaches jd1.92/m3 and jd1.11/m3 respectively for water and sewerage at a consumption of more than 122 m3/quarter. tariffs for non-residential customers were jd1.30/m3 and 0,87 m3 respectively above a consumption of 6 m3/quarter, independently of the level of consumption. there is also a sewerage tax that is set at 3% of the assessed property value, which is charged in addition to the sewer tariff. despite rising property values the sewerage tax revenue has remained constant for many years at jd15m per year, representing less than 10% of water revenues. tariff adjustments any adjustment of water tariffs requires cabinet approval. in september 2009, king abdullah stated that water tariffs would not be increased. in june 2010 the government announced the first tariff increase since 1997, emphasizing that low-volume consumers would not be affected because the tariff in the first block remained unchanged. the tariff increase, said to amount to only 9% for volumes beyond the first block, would become effective in january 2011. at the same time, the billing cycle was changed from every three months to monthly. furthermore, tariffs in five governorates were silently substantially increased to the same level as in amman. in february 2012 the cabinet decided to return to the quarterly billing cycle and to further increase tariffs in the higher blocks of consumption. affordability combined water and sewer bills amount, on average, to less than 0.5% of total household expenditures and are thus quite affordable. the intermittent supply leads many to rely on bottled or tanked water, which is about 8 to 10 times higher than piped water, so that total household expenditures are often much higher than the utility bill. prices paid to water vendors are 4 to 8 jd per m3. in 2007 it was estimated that an average poor household with 6 members in the middle governorates spends 31-39 jd per year on its water and sewer bill at a consumption of 70 liter/capita/day, corresponding to only 0.4% of household expenditures. however, if other items are added the picture changes substantially: it costs 35 jd per year to depreciate the cost of a 2 m3 rooftop storage tank over 10 years; 160 jd per year to buy 2 liters/capita/day of bottled water at a price of 0.04 jd per liter (0.80 jd per canister of 5 gallons); and 153 jd per year to buy the equivalent of 28 liters/capita/day at a price of 2.50 jd/m3 from water vendors. this amounts to 374 jd per year and household, corresponding to 6.3% of expenditures. in addition, for households not connected to the sewer network the cost of emptying septic tanks at a cost between 21 and 40 jd per load needs to be added to calculate total water and sanitation expenditures. in conclusion, the cost of the water bill thus is only a fraction of total water expenditures, and household water expenditures could be lowered significantly if a sufficient quantity of good quality water was supplied on a reliable basis. investment jordan's water strategy 2009–2022 includes investments of jordanian dinar 5.86 billion (us$8.24 billion) over a period of 15 years, corresponding to more than 160% of jordan's gdp. according to an earlier water sector investment plan for the time from 1998 to 2010 (published in 1997), the estimated costs for water projects were us$1,916 million, while sanitation projects were estimated at us$926 million, corresponding to about us$240 million per year. actual investments towards the end of that period were only slightly below these expected figures: they stood at 900m jd in the six years from 2005 to 2010, averaging 150m jd (us$215) or 28 jd (us$40) per capita. financing in the period 2005–10, public investments in water supply and sanitation were financed from the following sources: jd 325m (36%) through the sale of waj bonds: jd 305m (34%) by the jordanian treasury; jd 255m (27%) through grants from foreign donors. jd 30m (3%) through foreign loans. waj local currency bonds had a maturity of only three years, are government-guaranteed and pay 4 to 7% interest. waj debt increased by 900% to jd 621 million in only five years. 73% of grants were provided by usaid. since then, the share of loan financing in total financing has increased, including loans from germany and france. additional financing not included in the figures above is obtained from private sources through build-operate-transfer (bot) projects. there are two such projects in the water sector, one to finance the samra wastewater treatment plant and the other and largest one to finance the disi-amman carrier. the latter is partially financed by about us$190 million of private equity from gama energy, a joint venture between the turkish firm gama holding and the us firm general electric energy financial services. in addition, the government provided a grant of us$300 million and loans totaling us$475 million by the overseas private investment corporation of the united states, the european investment bank and proparco of france. the european investment bank will lend the jordanian government in 2023 €200 million for its participation to the aqaba-amman water desalination and conveyance project. this is jordan's largest-ever water investment project's first confirmed finance. it will assist the country in addressing the difficulties of increasingly restricted water resources and adapting to climate change. external cooperation the major external public donors in jordan's water supply and sanitation are the united states, japan, germany and the european union, primarily through the european investment bank (eib). other donors are the united nations (un), the world bank, the islamic development bank, the kuwait fund for arab economic development, the saudi fund for development, the abu dhabi fund, the arab fund for economic and social development, italy, france, norway, south korea, the netherlands, canada, spain, sweden, china and libya. the following paragraphs summarize the cooperation with some of jordan's most active external partners in the water sector. european investment bank the european investment bank (eib) approved two loans for the rehabilitation of the water supply network in greater amman in 1996 and 1998 for a total of 49 million euro. waj has benefited from 8 eib loans amounting to 61.5 million euro between 1984 and 1998. france the french development agency afd and its private investment arm proparco support the disi-amman conveyor through two projects, each of us$100 million, approved in 2009. germany germany has been engaged in supporting the jordanian water sector for several decades through three agencies: giz (deutsche gesellschaft für internationale zusammenarbeit) in charge of technical cooperation, the development bank kfw in charge of financial cooperation and the federal geological agency bgr in charge of hydro-geological studies. giz. the german technical cooperation agency giz (deutsche gesellschaft für internationale zusammenarbeit) supports the management of water resources programme initiated in 2006. the jordanian partner is the mwi. the main objective of the program is to increase sustainable use of the available water resources. furthermore, it seeks to resolve conflicts between the different water demanding sectors, namely the domestic, industrial and agricultural sector. to achieve these objectives, the program "examines legal and institutional frameworks", offers training, supports the establishment of databases and sets up "organisational structures and processes to improve efficiency". the use of treated wastewater in agriculture and the establishment of water user associations is encouraged. giz works together with german companies which participate under the framework of a public-private partnership. kfw. the german government-owned development bank kfw has a series of water and sanitation projects in jordan with a total commitment of euro 245m in 2009. the currently largest project supports the extension of sewer networks and the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in irbid through a euro 62.95m loan approved in 2000. the treated wastewater is to be reused for irrigated agriculture. other projects approved around 2000 include a water loss reduction project for irbid and jerash (eur 18.2 m loan), a water loss reduction project for the northern governorates (eur 21.7 m loan and eur 3.5 m grant), a water loss reduction project in karak (eur 16.2 m loan and eur 2.24 m grant) and a sanitation project in karak and kofranjah (eur 15m loan and eur 1.45m in grants). in 2006, kfw approved another series of loans, including for a third project supporting the reduction of distribution losses in amman in partnership with other donors through an 11m euro loan with the objective of saving 2.5 million m3 of water per year, enough to provide 70,000 beneficiaries with water. other projects approved around 2006 include a project for water transmission in the northern governorates (eur 15 m loan) and a project for water management in the middle governorates (eur 5.3 m loan). in 2009, kfw modified its cooperation with jordan from a project approach to a program approach, bundling its new funding in a single "water resources management program" (2009–2014) that covers water loss reduction, sanitation and the use of reclaimed water from irbid for irrigation in the northern jordan valley. the new program approach is expected to allow flexible responses to changing circumstances. past projects financed by kfw include a water supply project in wadi musa; an integrated poverty-oriented project targeted at refugees and squatters which included investments in water supply and sanitation; sewage disposal for greater irbid; and a trunk sewer and associated pumping stations linking up to the wastewater treatment plant as-samra near amman. in wadi musa the euro 11.3 million project achieved, for a brief period, continuous water supply as well as a reduction in distribution losses. the project was co-financed by france and, concerning sanitation, by the us. the euro 16.3 m poverty-oriented infrastructure project implemented by the housing and urban development corporation (hudco) of jordan increased access to water and sanitation in two squatter settlements and four refugee camps. the investments in the camps were chosen in close dialogue with the residents who were organized in community improvement committees, and were carried out between 1999 and 2002. the project complemented the world bank-financed community infrastructure development project. the euro 60.1 m greater irbid sewage disposal project (1994–2002) included the construction of two wastewater treatment plants and the associated sewer infrastructure connecting 202,000 residents, as well as training for operational staff. both treatment plants operated satisfactorily four years after they had been completed. residual sludge is being properly disposed on a landfill. japan japan supports the jordanian water sector primarily through three projects: improving water supply in zarqa governorate (4.1bn yen or about us$41 million grants from 2002 to 2010), including through loss reduction, reaching a total of 780,000 residents in east zarqa (awajan) and russeifa (phase i) and in zarqa city (west zarqa), hashmeyeh and sukhna (phase ii). reduction of non-revenue water (nrw) through technical assistance, beginning in amman in 1999, followed by pilot activities in parts of 10 governorates (2005–2008) and eight more pilot activities in six governorates during a "phase 2" (2009–2011). during phase 2 non-revenue water in the pilot areas was reduced from an average of 49% to only 22%, according to jica. energy conservation through the upgrading of the water supply network in zarqa governorate (about us$12 million) since 2009. the program also includes technical assistance for operation and maintenance. japanese aid is in the form of grants administered by the japan international cooperation agency (jica). japanese assistance is tied, meaning that consultants and contractors have to be from japan. an important completed project supported by japan was the doubling the capacity of zai water treatment plant on the carrier from deirala in the jordan valley to amman to 250 million liter/day, covering a population of 1.9 million people (us$79.1 million grant, 1998–2001). united states us assistance to the water and sanitation sector in jordan is provided through the united states agency for international development (usaid) and the millennium challenge corporation (mcc). usaid support for infrastructure. under the wadi ma’in, zara and mujib water treatment and conveyance project, the united states