WANA Institute Participates in SDC's WASH and Construction Regional Workshop

Senior researcher Lara Nassar will address the potential for enhanced decoupling of water resources in Jordan at the WASH and Construction Regional Workshop organised by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Amman on May 18. She will discuss the research the WANA Institute conducted together with Oxford University and EcoPeace for the project Delivering Food and Water Security in a Middle East in Flux.

Agriculture is Jordan’s heaviest water consumer, accounting for up to 61% of national water allocations. Currently, Jordan is over extracting from its limited aquifers to cover excess demand. The researchers studied 14 crops that comprise 80% of Jordan’s water use, and found that shifting towards efficient levels of agricultural water productivity for these 14 crops could reduce the water usage with almost one third.