Saving Water in an Arid Paradise

Ghada Al-Qudah, head of the Fatmeh Al-Zahra Voluntary Society in northern Jordan, visits with the Tumah family, who took out a loan of 500 Jordanian Dinars — about $750 U.S. — to build a cistern to provide a year-round supply of water. Photo: David Snyder for Mercy Corps

'Ein Jenna, Jordan — The name of this village means "Spring of Paradise" in Arabic. It's a moniker that belies one of the main challenges facing this and countless other Jordanian communities: the scarcity of water.

Jordan has one of the world's lowest levels of water resource availability per person, according to the World Health Organization. Over the next two decades, a growing population, a fractious regional political context and climate change is expected to exacerbate water shortages in this mostly arid country.

Mercy Corps is responding throughout Jordan by awarding grants to community-based organizations (CBOs) that agree to use the money as a revolving loan fund for household water-conservation projects. Projects include switching to more effective irrigation techniques, installing rainwater havesting cisterns to store drinking water, and helping sheep and goat breeders quench their animals' thirst without wasting water.

Over the project's five-year lifespan, at least 120 rural CBOs will receive grants of 7,000 Jordanian Dinars, or about U.S. $10,000. The project is funded by USAID and Mercy Corps.

Mercy Corps has two local partners in the project: the Jordan River Foundation, a well-respected local civic organization, handles training and shares field supervision responsibilities with Mercy Corps; the Royal Scientific Society, the largest applied research institution and technical service provider in Jordan, provides technical training and a range of technical assistance to the recipient CBOs.

In 'Ein Jenna, Mercy Corps awarded a grant to the Fatmah Al-Zahra Cooperative Society for Women, who in turn loaned that money to nine households who met income guidelines and other criteria. Ghada Al-Qudah founded the organization in 1990 to improve the social, economical, cultural and health conditions for rural women in 'Ein Janna.

"At the time, poverty and unemployment rates in Jordan were rising. Women, especially, needed more employment opportunities," says Ghada. Starting with 500 Jordanian Dinars (about U.S. $700), she and two other women from her village began selling sandwiches to schools. Today, her organization operates a 60-student kindergarten and a sewing crafts business.

After the Society won the Mercy Corps grant, members held meetings in each community to explain the process of the project loans and what they are for. All loans are revolving, which means that once they're repaid, they'll be redistributed as loans for other families, Ghada said.

"We are getting many benefits from this project: we are building our administrative and technical abilities, we're expanding our networks in the community, and we're now more involved in the development activities run by the governate and the kingdom."

'Ein Janna is part of a the governorate of Aljoun, the capital of which features a 12th-century hilltop castle built by the Muslim population to repel the invading Crusaders. Despite its erstwhile role as a strategic outpost, the village is far from wealthy. Most of its families live on monthly fixed incomes of between $225 and $450 - not enough to afford capital expenses associated with water-harvesting projects such as cisterns or reservoirs.

These and other water-conservation efforts are now keeping this spring of paradise from draining its most precious resource. Within six months of completing the cisterns, families saved more than 70 cubic meters of water — or roughly 18,500 U.S. gallons. Money they're no longer spending on water bills, Ghada says, is now freed up for other essential needs.

"We were illiterate in this area," says Ghada. "But now we are one of the fastest to learn."