bought in 5-gallon canisters and private water vendors that supply water in trucks are the main source of drinking water for 15% of households. the government as well as different ngos have been making efforts to increase public awareness of water scarcity and to encourage water conservation. one example is the water wise women initiative carried out since 2007 in initially five local communities throughout jordan. the initiative builds on the efforts of volunteers organized in 50 community development centers by supported by the jordanian hashemite fund for human development (johud). it trains female volunteers called "change pioneers" in topics such as water saving, rainwater harvesting, water storage, plumbing, hygiene and water use for house gardening. it thus provides opportunities for women to generate income and to reduce expenses for bottled water, water bought from trucks and hired plumbers. in addition, the initiative reaches out to school girls and children, e.g. via a cartoon addressing water issues. water balance jordan is considered one of the four most water scarce countries in the world. the limited water resources are exposed to pollution. population growth is expected to increase the pressure on available water resources. the national water strategy defines “water deficit” as “water demand” minus “water resources”. “water demand” is not used in an economic sense where demand depends on price. instead demand is defined as water needs derived from policy objectives. thus the figure given in the strategy for water demand in agriculture - 1,080 million m3 (mcm)/year - is far greater than actual water use of about 600 mcm/year. in 2007, agriculture accounted for 72% of “water demand”, while the municipal share was 24% and the shares of tourism and industries were 3% and 1%, respectively. the water deficit of 565 million m3 (mcm)/year for 2007 thus is mainly caused by assumptions about “water needs” in agriculture. the strategy projects that municipal and industrial water needs will increase by 276 mcm/year from 2007 to 2022 (+ 29%), while agricultural water needs will stagnate. the strategy envisages increasing water supply through three measures: more use of reclaimed water in agriculture and industry (+ 156 mcm/year), a net increase of fossil groundwater use (+ 59 mcm /year) through the disi water conveyance project completed in 2013, and the desalination of seawater as part of the red sea-dead sea canal (+ 500 mcm/year) to be completed in 2022. these measures would provide more water than what is needed to cover the projected increase in municipal and industrial water demand. the remaining amount could be used to cover “water needs” in agriculture, to reduce groundwater overuse or to restore freshwater aquatic ecosystems. water resources jordan's water resources include conventional as well as non-conventional resources, the latter e.g. comprising water reuse and desalination. conventional water resources conventional water resources in jordan consist of groundwater and surface water. countrywide, twelve groundwater basins have been identified. in terms of sustainability, their state can be described as critical since some of them are exploited to their maximum capacity, while others are overexploited, threatening their future use. the long term safe yield of renewable groundwater has been estimated at 275 million cubic metres/year. the major surface water sources are the jordan river, the yarmouk river and the zarqa river. much of the flow of the jordan river is diverted by israel and much of the flow of the yarmouk river by syria, leaving only a small share to jordan. syria and jordan have signed a bilateral treaty over the sharing of the yarmouk river in 1987 in preparation for the construction of the al-wehda dam on the border between the two countries. an annex to the israel–jordan treaty of peace of 1994 specifies the allocation of the jordan river and the lower yarmouk river water between the two countries. as part of this treaty, israel supplies jordan with 20 million cubic metres per year during the summer from the sea of galilee in exchange for the same amount that israel pumps from the yarmouk river in the winter for storage in the sea of galilee. the treaty also specifies the supply of 10 million m3 of desalinated brackish water from israel to jordan and the supply of an additional 50 million cubic metres per year of drinkable water for jordan from an unspecified source. this water could come from the sea of galilee or brackish water springs. the zarqa river is severely polluted by industry, municipal wastewater and non-point sources. the king talal dam, jordan's largest surface water reservoir, faces low water levels and pollution. however, water quality in the king talal reservoir has improved as a result of the construction of the new as-samra wastewater treatment plant. the national water strategy estimates total renewable freshwater resources at 575 million cubic metres/year plus 90 million cubic metres/year of treated wastewater, totaling 665 million cubic metres/year. water reuse treated wastewater from the amman-zarqa area flows through the zarqa river to the jordan valley where it is reused indirectly for irrigation. water reuse is an increasingly important element in jordan's water balance. reuse of treated wastewater ( also called "reclaimed water") occurs both indirectly, after discharge of the effluent to a river and mixing with freshwater, and directly, e.g. without mixing with freshwater. strategies and challenges. the increased use of reclaimed water is part of jordan's national water strategy. as part of it, a strategy for pricing and marketing reclaimed water has been established. extension workers from the ministry of agriculture use a computer-based information system to advise farmers on how to optimize their fertigation in light of the irrigation water quality, location, crop, soil type and other factors. despite these efforts, the majority of farmers in the jordan valley are not aware of the nutrient content of the reclaimed water, although experience from demonstration sites shows that using it, fertiliser expenditures can be reduced by 60%. one challenge for the reuse of wastewater is the fact that industries discharge untreated wastewater into the sewer system. however, this industrial wastewater contains heavy metals and other substances which the municipal wastewater treatment plants cannot remove. standards. the jordanian standard js893:2006 restricts the direct re-use of treated domestic wastewater to crops that are not eaten raw. it sets different standards for various reuse categories such as cooked vegetables, parks & landscaping/roads in towns (class a), fruit trees, sides of roads and green areas (class b) and fodder & industrial crop & forest trees (class c). industrial wastewater standard specification no 202/2007 complements the above standards, also distinguishing between different reuse categories. furthermore, a reuse coordination committee has been established. a crop monitoring program confirmed that use of treated wastewater in jordan meets the health-based target recommended by the who guidelines for the safe use of treated wastewater. indirect reuse of reclaimed water from greater amman. the reclaimed water (treated wastewater) from the largest wastewater treatment plant in jordan, as-samra, flows through the zarqa river into the king-talal-reservoir where it mixes with freshwater. from there it flows into the king-abdullah-canal in the jordan valley where it further mixes with freshwater. the diluted reclaimed water is reused on about 4,000 farms covering 10,000 hectares in the southern part of the valley, mostly using drip irrigation. wadi musa where the first pilot project for direct reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture in jordan was implemented. direct reuse projects. according to one estimate, 1,500 ha were irrigated with reclaimed water in the vicinity of treatment plants as of 2009 in 15 locations, of which the biggest are near as-samra (510 ha), aqaba (208 ha), ramtha (121 ha) and wadi musa (107 ha). crops irrigated are forage crops and tree crops. one of the first pilot projects for direct reuse was implemented in wadi musa with support from usaid. water was first used to irrigate a demonstration farm, and then the fields of nearby farmers. another pilot project was initiated using wastewater from the small wadi hassan treatment plant to irrigate green spaces on the campus of the university of irbid, and commercial fruit plantations. in most cases of direct reuse, the water authority of jordan, the operator of most municipal wastewater treatment plants in jordan, has concluded contracts with farmers. the total area irrigated under contracts with waj is 760 ha, or about half the total irrigated area. it is thus about 12 times smaller than the area irrigated with indirectly reclaimed water from the as-samra plant in the jordan valley. planned reuse of reclaimed water from greater irbid in the jordan valley. a major water reuse project is being planned to reuse water from three wastewater treatment plants in the area of irbid in the north of jordan through a project supported in the framework of jordanian-german cooperation. as of 2006, only 14% of the wastewater from these plants was being reused. an explanation for this is that farmers in the jordan valley are reluctant to use the reclaimed water, which they perceive to be of poor quality, for irrigation. the wastewater thus flows into the jordan river, unused. in the future, the treated effluent from the three plants will flow through a pipe into the jordan valley, generating hydropower from the elevation differential of more than 1,000m. it will then be mixed with freshwater and delivered to the farmers in a quality that is acceptable to them. desalination desalination, which includes both desalination of sea water and desalination of brackish water, is another important non-conventional water resource for jordan. the key project for sea water desalination is the red sea-dead sea canal project which is yet to be completed. the most important plant for desalination of brackish water is the ma'in-mujib system which supplies water to amman. impact of climate change on the water balance in 2009 a government report noted that "jordan’s remarkable development achievements are under threat due to the crippling water scarcity, which is expected to be aggravated by climate change." rainfall is expected to decline significantly and evaporation and transpiration of plants will increase due to increased temperatures. infrastructure jordan's water resources are located far away from its population centers, in particular the greater amman area where about half the country's population lives and which lies at about 1,000 meter above sea level. to address this challenge, jordan has developed an extensive water supply infrastructure to provide water for both irrigation and municipal uses. existing infrastructure the mujib dam stores water from wadi mujib which is then mixed with desalinated water from brackish springs near the shore of the dead sea and then pumped up to amman for drinking water supply. the key elements of jordan's overall water infrastructure are the al-wehda dam on the yarmouk river; the king abdullah canal (kac) in the jordan valley which is fed primarily by the yarmouk river, the mukhaibah springs near the yarmouk river and a number of wadis draining into the jordan valley; the as-samra wastewater treatment plant that treats most of greater amman's wastewater and discharges it to the zarqa river; and the king talal dam on the zarqa river from where the water returns to the kac downstream of deir alla for irrigation in the lower jordan valley; the following systems provide drinking water for the amman-zarqa metropolitan area: the disi water conveyance project that extracts 100 million m3 (2.6×1010 us gal) of water a year from the fossil disi aquifer 325 kilometres (202 mi) south of amman. the deir alla-amman system pumps up to 90 million m3 (2.4×1010 us gal) a year water from the kac to amman over a height of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) and treats it in the zai water treatment plant; the ma'in-mujib system desalinates up to 38 million m3 (1.0×1010 us gal) per year of brackish water from the northeastern shore of the dead sea, stores it in mujib reservoir and pumps it to amman, also covering a difference in altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). a pipeline from a wellfield near the azraq oasis to the east, local wells, and a small wellfield south of amman. red sea-dead sea canal the proposed red sea-dead sea canal is a multibillion-dollar plan to build a canal from the red sea to the slowly evaporating dead sea. the project also incorporates the construction of a desalination plant. it is expected to provide jordan with