Water Governance in the Jordan Valley

Water governance in the Jordan Valley that involves the water users to participate in the water management hand-by-hand with the Jordan Valley Authority became a necessity to cope with the scarce water resources, and to assure sustainability of the irrigation projects. This participation concept was introduced in stages to be accepted by the farmers in accordance with the different agro-climatic zones in the Jordan Valley. It started by forming water user groups to participate in the water distribution activities at the tertiary level on voluntary basis, then developed to water committees with participation from farmers, Jordan Valley Authority Staff, and the government representative in the water committee area. Building on the achieved successes, water user associations were developed and officially registered under the cooperative law in Jordan. Many of the successful water user associations signed task transfer agreements with the Jordan Valley Authority to take over the responsibility of the irrigation water management of the irrigation networks at their areas.