Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/S014098/1
International - Jordan Water Security Portal
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor JJ Harou, The University of Manchester, Mechanical Aerospace and Civil Eng
- Grant held at:
- The University of Manchester, Mechanical Aerospace and Civil Eng
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Water Resources
- Water Engineering
- Food security, food supply
- Sustainable development
- Nat Resources, Env & Rural Dev
- Groundwater
- Hydrogeology
- Food security
- Agriculture
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Abstract:
- Jordan is considered the most water scarce country in the world and water resources are under increasing stress due to increasing population and per capita water consumption, climate change, and ageing infrastructure. Groundwater abstraction is currently almost double the sustainable yield and surface water resources are fully exploited. To exacerbate these problems an influx of conflict refugees entered Jordan from Syria and Iraq in the last 10 years, swelling Jordan's population of approximately 6 million by around 3 million. International aid provided water infrastructure investment in refugee camps but this increased use impacted Jordan's available water resources. Failure to plan adequately for the future is leading to continued unsustainable overexploitation of groundwater resources, degradation of groundwater quality, constraining of economic development, and potential political instability which could harm Jordan and the region. Jordan has plans for new infrastructure which will secure additional water resources and ensure that water can be distributed effectively and equitably but their infrastructure plans address only part of the water scarcity challenge; Jordan must also invest in demand management by reducing household, commercial and agricultural water consumption. This could be achieved through reducing wastage and through changing consumption patterns of water consumers. Effectively combining water supply and demand interventions is not easy as different combinations will perform differently under different assumptions about the future. Jordanian water planners need an efficient and effective way to stress test alternative water plans. This proposal builds on the Jordan Water Project (JWP) (2013-2017) which was funded by NERC (NE/L009285/2), the U.S. National Science Foundation and other national funders in the context of a Belmont Forum and led by Stanford University. The JWP built a national water planning model of Jordan, unique in its ability to help planners understand and predict system performance and to test policy and water infrastructure investment alternatives. This grant application secures the gains achieved by the JWP model by preparing it to be sustainably hosted and used in practice by the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), the main local project partner. The central objective of the JWP was to build an integrated planning model reflecting hydrologic, institutional and economic behaviour at the sub-district spatial scale through to 2050. The purpose of the model was to quantify freshwater supply and demand changes due to hydrological, institutional and economic scenarios and interventions (policy or infrastructure changes). In addition to representing the national hydrological and engineered water resource system, the JWP model is able to represent its links to the economic, institutional, and social aspects of water planning in Jordan over space and time. The model is of unique scale and scope in its ability to account for direct and indirect impacts of consumer decisions by simulating the feedback between consumers, policy makers and the Jordanian water system. The proposed work is divided into three 'Work Packages' (1) development of the browser-based graphical user interface (GUI) for system, data and results visualisation; (2) model improvements and extensions; and (3) knowledge exchange and capacity building for using the JWP model portal for strategic water security planning. Impact will be achieved through working with MWI colleagues, knowledge exchange workshops with MWI employees and contractors, publications, and conference presentations.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/S014098/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Innovation
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Innovation Projects
This grant award has a total value of £125,153
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £971 | £23,412 | £12,769 | £7,141 | £73,682 | £831 | £6,348 |
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