Jordan is a country with very limited water resources. The severity of water shortage in Jordan has made the consideration of non-conventional resources indispensable. Not only does Jordan suffer from scarcity of water being an arid/semi-arid country, but also many of the available resources have been suffering a deterioration in their water quality especially ground water reserves in Azraq and Dhulail.

Jordan has invested a lot in wastewater collection, treatment and reuse in irrigation. This has been indirectly securing some good quality water for domestic uses. After almost two decades of reuse practices, treated effluents have come to be realized as a strategic non-conventional resource of water by both the Jordanian public as well as decision makers in the water sector.

Desalination of sea water has not been considered seriously 20 years ago mainly because of the high cost of desalination technologies at the time. Recently, such technologies have been scientifically and technically available at lower cost than before. This has brought up desalination as a viable alternative for Jordan. This is especially important when we consider those brackish waters in aquifers that have been salinized due to over pumping especially in Azraq and Dhulail regions. Such aquifers used to supply Amman and other cities with drinking water before the deterioration in their water quality. The infrastructure of transporting water from those aquifers to populated areas does still exist, which makes the feasibility of desalination plants at those salty reserves of ground water worthy of study.

In a word, desalination is an alternative that seems feasible to solve part of Jordan’s chronic water supply problems. However, little expertise exists in the country in this area as there has been no major desalination projects in the country so far. Thus, enhancing technical expertise in desalination is an urgent priority for the country.

To achieve that, there is a pressing need to start a focal point on desalination issues and technologies that can be in the form of a center hosted by Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST). This center will be as a resource body on all aspects of desalination including capacity building, training, research, curriculum development, and public awareness.

In more detail, the objectives of the proposed desalination center can be summarized in the following:

1. Development of the necessary human resources and expertise for locally and regionally adaptable and sustainable desalination technologies through training and capacity building.

2. Conducting desalination experiments and testing of processes and products under environmental conditions of the region, and promoting technology transfer

3. Development of desalination courses and curriculum at the post graduate level in JUST and other Jordanian universities

4. Enhancing the public awareness about desalination technologies and the needs and issues associated with them.

5. Establishing the grounds for participation of all stakeholders including local communities as well as creating partnerships for the planning, implementation and management of specific desalination projects on the local, regional and international levels.