Improving water supply in the governorates of Irbid, Ajloun and Jerash

This project will contribute to the following objectives: Meet the increase in demand related to population growth, especially the influx of refugees. Reduce the overexploitation of surface aquifers. This overexploitation is caused by the increase in demand. Prepare transboundary water transfers in the context of regional water exchange agreements and the “Red Sea-Dead Sea” project. The project will withdraw 30 million m3 of raw water a year from the Jordan Valley, treat it and pump it, via the Wadi al Arab, to supply the governorates of Irbid, Ajloun and Jerash. It includes: Water abstraction in the King Abdullah Canal at the Wadi al Arab (in the north of the Jordan Valley).The purification of the abstracted water, requiring advanced treatment: the water treatment plant will account for approximately half of the investment. The conveyance of the water up to the Zabda reservoir, on the outskirts of Irbid, i.e. a distance of 30 kilometers and 825 meters of height differences, requiring four pumping stations.The total investment cost is estimated at USD 112m, which will be financed by the European Investment Bank, AFD and the European Union with a grant from the NIF (Neighbourhood Investment Facility). AFD’s financing concerns 38% of the total project cost.