valley. it was thus decided to replace the plant with a more modern technology, involving the private sector. in 2003, a 25-year build-operate-transfer (bot) contract was signed with a consortium including the french company suez environnement. the plant was commissioned in 2006, providing water of a considerably improved quality for irrigation. in terms of cooperation with syria, in 1987 the two governments had signed a new water-sharing treaty that was more favorable to syria compared to the 1953 treaty, acknowledging the increased water use for irrigation in the upper basin inside syria. after much delay, it was decided in 2001 to reduce the size of the dam on the yarmouk river compared to the originally planned maqarin dam. the dam, called al-wehda dam (unity dam), was commissioned in 2011, but yielded much less water than anticipated due to syrian abstractions upstream. a digital national water master plan was launched in 2004, replacing the first master plan. it was an integrated plan intended to enable decision makers to set policies and strategies based on planning scenarios derived from water consumption trends in various locations and sectors such as agriculture, municipal use and industry. the master plan was connected to a water information system (wis) which was to contain all monitoring data related to demands and resources. concerning the institutional reform and modernization of the water sector, the management contract for amman was awarded in 1999 to the french company lyonnaise des eaux. it brought about many improvements, although it fell short of contractual targets. in 2007 it ended and a subsidiary of waj in the form of a public company, miyahuna (“our water”), was created. in 2004, a first commercially oriented public water company had been created as a subsidiary of waj in the southern town of aqaba, called the aqaba water company (awc). a third water company, the yarmouk water company (ywc), was created in northern jordan in 2011. in 2013 miyahuna was given the responsibility for water supply and sanitation in madaba governorate and in january 2014 in zarqa governorate under public-public management contracts, while the employees in these two governorates remain employees of waj. in may 2009, king abdullah gave the go-ahead for a new national water strategy until 2022, replacing an earlier water strategy from 1998. the strategy included 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. it also foresaw a decreasing reliance on groundwater from 32% in 2007 to 17%, increased use of treated wastewater in agriculture from 10% to 13% and increased use of desalination from 1% to 31%. according to then-minister of water, raed abu soud, even after the completion of the disi water conveyance project, the water deficit in 2022 would be about 500 million cubic metres, highlighting the need to include desalination under the red sea-dead sea canal in the strategy. the strategy also envisaged institutional reforms such as enacting a new water law, separating operational from administrative functions, as well as production from distribution operations, creating a water council with advisory functions and establishing a water regulatory commission. while the legal and institutional reforms were not implemented, the disi water conveyance project was completed in 2013 by the turkish firm gama. the influx of about one million refugees from syria since 2012 increased the population of jordan to more than nine million. it also increased water demand substantially. for lack of financing, the red sea-dead sea canal is not being pursued any more in its original form for the time being. instead, a scaled-down, more realistic version is being pursued. this project involves a water swap between jordan and israel, with jordan supplying desalinated water from aqaba to southern israel, while israel provides additional water from the sea of galilee to northern jordan. brine water from the desalination plant is to be supplied to the dead sea. in 2015, the bidding for the desalination plant at aqaba was commenced, and the plant was inaugurated in 2017 by the then-prime minister hani mulki. the clean water it will generate, estimated at around 5 million cubic metres annually, will be used for drinking purposes, agricultural and industrial needs access jordan has reached a high level of providing water supply and sanitation services (see table). 99.3% of the population have access to improved water supply, 99.5% to improved sanitation, which is high compared to other developing countries and considering jordan's very scarce resources. although the physical infrastructure exists, a lack of available water causes a rising demand of bottled and tanked water for many households. access to water and sanitation in jordan (2016) urban(90.7% of the population) rural(9.3% of the population) total water improved water source 99.5% 99.5% 99.3% house connections 62% 54.7% 61.1% sanitation improved sanitation 99.7% 97.8% 99.5% sewerage 70.8% 22.7% 64.3% according to waj, only 65% of the population are connected to the sewerage system. the rest of those having access to improved sanitation uses on-site sanitation solutions such as septic tanks. these septic tanks, if not lined properly, may leak to the groundwater aquifers and contaminate them. service quality continuity of supply aqaba, the only city in jordan that enjoys continuous drinking water supply, receives its water by gravity from the fossil disi aquifer. water supply in the jordanian highlands, where most of the population lives, is generally intermittent. according to a 2008 study by the university of michigan, water is delivered once a week in big cities like amman and once every twelve days in some rural areas. according to a 2007 survey the mean rate of supply per week was 1.5 days in madaba governorate, 2.9 days in balqa governorate and 3.2 days in zarqa governorate. in amman, according to the water distribution plan of miyahuna, 8 out of 44 main distribution zones received continuous water supply "except in emergency cases" in 2012. most other distribution zones were scheduled to receive water for either once a week for 24 hours or twice a week for a total of 36–48 hours. to what extent actual supply follows the distribution program, especially during summer, is not clear. since the disi-amman conveyor became operational in summer 2013 the continuity of supply in amman has increased. wadi musa and the neighboring villages of taiba, b'doul and beida were among the few localities in the highlands that briefly enjoyed continuous water supply after a new well field had been built and the distribution network had been rehabilitated in 2001. however, only a few years later, water supply became intermittent again. aqaba has always enjoyed continuous water supply thanks to abundant gravity-fed water supply from the fossil disi aquifer in the highlands above the coastal city. drinking water quality drinking water quality in jordan is governed by jordanian standard 286 of 2008, which is based on the world health organization drinking water guidelines. jordan's standards were modified in 2008 and previously in 2001, after a major drinking water pollution outbreak occurred in amman in the summer of 1998 due to a malfunction of the capital's major drinking water treatment plant. in 2001, specific measures to be undertaken in case of the occurrence of pollution in drinking water samples were included in the procedures that are part of the standard. a 2005 study of different potable water sources in four governorates showed that drinking water quality was in compliance with national physiochemical standards. for the purpose of monitoring groundwater quality, a network of observation wells is installed in each of the “groundwater basins”. at the household level water is stored in water tanks (usually on top of the buildings) to be used until the next turn of water supply. in a 2011 study by the jordanian government, more than 90% of samples taken at house water storage tanks in three amman distribution zones (rasheed, kharabsheh and khalda) had chlorine residual levels between 0.2 mg/l and 0.5 mg/l. these values are in compliance with the recommendations of the who drinking water guidelines. according to the who, the water can thus be classified as "safe to drink". despite these results, a 2012 jordan times article reported that “ customer satisfaction survey carried out by the jordan water company (miyahuna) showed that customers avoid drinking tap water, fearing it is contaminated”. wastewater treatment jordan's first wastewater treatment plant was established in 1968 in ain ghazal near amman (the plant now serves as a pre-treatment plant for the as-samra plant). the construction of other treatment plants started in the early 1980s. the total number of treatment plants was 28 as of 2013, treating about 324,000 m3 per day (118 million m3/year), or about 98% of the collected wastewater. by far the largest treatment plant is the as-samra plant that treats the wastewater of amman-zarqa, accounting for about 80% of all wastewater treated. the plant initially used the stabilization pond technology, but was rebuilt using the activated sludge technology in 2008 under a build-operate-transfer contract signed in 2002. in june 2012 the government signed a contract for the expansion of the treatment plant to a capacity of 365,000 m3. water is reused mainly for irrigation in the jordan valley, with some reuse for irrigation in the highlands and limited industrial reuse in aqaba. wastewater treatment plants in jordan (source: waj) no.treatment plant nameyear of commissioningyear of upgradingtreatment technologydesign flow (m3/day)actual average flow (m3/day) 2010operatorreusebiogas digestion 1aqaba natural1987stabilisation ponds9,0006,371awclocalno 2aqaba mechanical2005extended aeration12,0009,846awclocal 3al baqa1987trickling filter14,90010,209wajlocal 4fuheis1997activated sludge2,4002,221waj 5irbid central (fo'ara)19872014 (planned)trickling filter & activated sludge11,0238,132ywcjordan valley (planned) 6jerash (east)1983oxidation ditch3,2503,681ywc 7al karak20137,060 ?wajlocal 8kufranja19892014 (planned)trickling filter1,900 (18,000 after expansion)2,763ywclocal 9madaba1989activated sludge7,6005,172wajlocal 10mafraq2013activated sludge6,5502,009ywclocalno 11ma'an1989extended aeration5,7723,171wajlocal 12abu nuseir1986activated sludge r, b, c4,0002,571waj 13ramtha1987activated sludge7,4003,488ywclocal 14as salt1981extended aeration7,7005,291wajlocal 15tafila1988trickling filter1,6001,380wajlocal 16wadi al arab (doughara)19992014 (planned)extended aeration21,00010,264ywcjordan valley (planned) 17wadi hassan2001oxidation ditch1,6001,132ywclocal 18wadi musa2000extended aeration3,4003,029wajlocal 19wadi as sir1997aerated lagoon4,0003,624miyahunalocal 20al ekeder2005stabilisation ponds4,000over 4,000ywcplant overloadedno 21al lijoon2005stabilisation ponds1,000853ywcno 22tall almanta2005trickling filter & activated sludge400300 23al jiza2008activated sludge4,000704 24as samra19842004activated sludge267,000230,606suez-morgantilocal and in jordan valleyyes 25al merad (sakib)2010activated sludge10,0001,000ywclocal 26shobak2010stabilisation ponds350100wajno 27al mansorah2010stabilisation ponds5015no 28wadi shalala2013activated sludge13,700ywcjordan valley (planned)yes 29south amman2014 (planned)activated sludge(52,000)miyahunaplanned total428,690323,951 accessibility of information the 2015 report of the un special rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation encouraged the ministry of water and irrigation and water authorities to make more information accessible by creating a system of public information through various media channels, including online. these should include information relating to water and sanitation, such as the results of water sampling. thus strengthening the human right of access to information. according to the report these measures are also crucial for gaining public confidence in water quality, the reliability of services and encourage people to accept tariff reform. water use and environmental awareness water trucks are an important source of drinking water for many jordanians. given the high water scarcity in jordan, the average per capita use is lower than in most other countries. water production before network losses is about 120 liters per person and day while actual consumption is close to 80 liters per capita and day. a survey of water consumption habits by households in eastern amman and in 14 villages in the northern governorates showed that total consumption per capita lies between 60 and 80 liters per day. about 20-30% of this water is obtained from sources other than the public piped system, including from bottled water, water bought from tankers, rainwater harvesting and springs. in rural areas, 28% of households surveyed harvested rainwater and stored it in cisterns for drinking, since they considered it to be of better quality than piped water. in eastern amman, 12% of households bought water in large bottles and 30% bought water from private tankers. most households have roof storage tanks with a volume of 1–2 m3. according to the 2009 population and family health survey, 31% of households use bottled water, 7% use rainwater, 2% tanker water and 60% tap water as their primary source of drinking water. according to the same survey, 22% of households filter tap water and the majority does not apply any type of treatment. a 2007–08 survey by the german-jordanian water programme in the middle governorates zarqa, balqa and madaba showed that 79% of households use tap water as their main source of drinking water and that 37% of households treat water before drinking it. treated water