Water Ministry, USAID launch third phase of project to reduce water loss

AMMAN — The Ministry of Water and Irrigation, in partnership with USAID, has launched the third phase of a nationwide project aimed at reducing water loss by 30 per cent not later than 2025.

The $20-million third phase of the project aims to preserve water resources, achieve financial and administrative sustainability and sustain all water facilities, namely networks and pumping stations, Water Minister Raed Abul Saud said in a ministry statement on Monday.

The project also seeks to reduce energy and maintenance costs, increase revenues and ensure longer service life of water networks, according to the statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

It is also part of a larger $152-million programme carried out in partnership with USAID.

The minister added that the first and second phases of the project are already under way and will serve more than 200,000 subscribers in Amman, Zarqa and Madaba, as well as the northern region.

Abul Saud pointed out that the third phase will include expanding services of this programme to cover new areas and serve three million citizens namely in Tafileh, Madaba’s Dhiban, Balqa’s Fuheis and Mahis, in addition to some areas of the capital and northern governorates.

The project is intended to detect and repair water leaks, restructure water networks to effectively control pressure, replace outdated water meters with high accuracy smart ones, and update data collection systems to prevent underbilling, according to the statement.

The programme is envisioned to attain water savings of more than 15.5 million cubic metres, which are enough to meet the needs of about 425,000 people annually.

Meanwhile, USAID stressed that the long-term partnership with the government is aimed at achieving the desired goal of reducing water losses, mainly caused by leakage, illegal uses and shortcomings in meter reading.