Historical Transformations of the Lower Jordan River Basin (in Jordan): Changes in Water Use and Projections (1950-2025)

This report presents a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the history of water resources mobilization and uses within the LJRB. It illustrates the gradual “artificialization” and “complexification” of this river basin from a situation around 1950, where only 10,000 hectares were irrigated, groundwater was untapped and abundant water flowed to the Dead Sea, to the current situation where 46,000 hectares are irrigated and all surface resources are tapped and committed, and groundwater is being severely mined. Both the Jordan valley and the highlands, on the one hand, and agriculture and cities, on the other, are now interconnected and interdependent.