The EU funded “Water and Environment Support (WES) in the ENI Neighbourhood South Region” project organised the final consultation Workshop on its water activity in Jordan “Explore the potential of Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) at the catchment scale” on the 15^th of May 2024, in Amman, Jordan.

During the workshop the overview of this national activity was presented along with the findings of the final screening of the NWRM demonstrating the application of selected Best Management Practices and NWRMs in natural and peri-urban environments in arid or semiarid areas with restricted area availability.

Plenty of issues were presented and discussed thoroughly among representatives of  the Ministry of Water and Irrigation of Jordan, government agencies, EU Delegation to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, donors, local authorities, etc. These included the designs of the NWRMs for the natural area in Azraq City area and the urban/peri-urban area in Ajloun Town (two pilot areas); the applicability of the selected measures in Jordan and alternative techniques; the cost-benefit analysis of the application of the proposed NWRM in the two pilot areas; the economic incentives and regulation framework regarding Natural Water Retention Measures and storm/flood water management in the country; the proposed guidelines/criteria for the selection of appropriate sites of retention and detention systems.

The participants agreed to take into consideration a set of actions based on the recommendations of the activity that the country could implement beyond the duration of the WES project.

This concluding WES National activity will be followed by the Launching of the Non-Revenue Water Policy for Jordan, in the context of the WES activity “Elaboration of Non-Revenue Water Policy for Jordan” and the WES National Meeting in Jordan on the 23^rd of May 2024.

Facts and figures will be stated for all WES Activities prepared and delivered in Jordan since October 2020. More than 230 Jordanian key stakeholders (65% men 35% women) participated in the 2 Water and 2 Environment National Activities, 12 Regional Activities (5 Environment & 7 Water) and  3 Horizontal Activities.