The Management of Water in the Jordan Basin in 2010

Abstract

This paper is intended to contribute to the thinking of those involved in the management of the water in the Jordan Basin. It describes the situation as it was in 2010 with regard to water management and raises the question, “What changes may be needed if the problems posed by increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation are to be dealt with effectively?” The paper is based in part upon interviews with prominent experts from Israel, Jordan and Palestine. It presents the water management of the three national entities describing the relevant legal and administrative frameworks under which water is managed and comments on the situation with regard to day-to-day management. At the time of the underlying research all three national entities were in the process of reviewing the legal and administrative frameworks under which water is managed in the Jordan Basin. However there is little evidence that, in any of the thinking of the respective parties, attention is being given to the Basin as a whole or how to improve the existing structures for regional cooperation.