Jordan’s water security caught between $5B megaproject, frayed Israel ties
Amman's efforts to tackle acute water challenges have delivered breakthroughs in 2025, while progress toward the end of the Gaza war could see revived interest in Israel-Jordan water ties.
Jordan has been generating a steady stream of water-related headlines: On Oct. 9, Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud announced that the total value of financed water security projects underway in the kingdom stood at $3.4 billion. The declaration followed Amman's signing of a $55 million financing agreement with the German Development Bank to develop new water resources in the arid country, which itself came just days after the Netherlands pledged $115 million in support of Jordan's water sector.
Jordan — one of the world’s most water-stressed nations — is working to secure additional funding for water projects in 2025. The key focus of this effort is the $5 billion National Water Carrier project, a long-planned desalination and pipeline network designed to bring Red Sea water to Amman.
Yet this megaproject, considered critical to Jordan's future water security, has faced major funding gaps and geopolitical uncertainty — notably when the United States briefly froze funding in January amid broad foreign aid cuts by the Trump administration. The kingdom set a goal of securing financing for the project by July, with construction to begin by year's end. As of this writing, however, Amman has not announced financial close.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s water security drive may soon face renewed scrutiny over cooperation with Israel following Friday's Gaza ceasefire, which could revive debate over cross-border projects. When the conflict erupted in 2023, the Jordanian government quickly suspended a key water-for-energy deal with Israel that could have supplied about 20% of the kingdom’s water.
