Near the ruins of Petra in southern Jordan, this new technique is now being applied to treat the wastewater from Petra’s many tourist facilities and provide water to local farmers. Thus, today Petra does not only bring an income to the tourist business, but also, indirectly, to the agricultural sector.

The Wadi Musa Reuse Project – a joint initiative of the Jordanian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and the American donor agency USAID – produces 1.25 million cubic meters of agricultural water a year, providing freshwater for the irrigation of 1,070 dunums^[2] of land. Initiated in September 2002, the scheme is already bearing its fruits: local farmers are cultivating a wide variety of crops including barley, sorghum and vegetables

Her Highness Sharifa Zein Bint Nasser, the head of development for the Royal Hashemite Court and one of the project’s initiators, explains that this is the first time any such initiative has been undertaken in the Middle East. “This is a groundbreaking project: it is the first time that treated wastewater is being used by local Bedouin tribes. We very much hope that the project will serve as an example to the whole country,” she says.  She explains that what makes the project at Wadi Musa unique is not so much the use of treated wastewater, but the fact that local farmers are being directly involved in its use.

Near the main site there is a small demonstration area where a wide variety of plants, trees and flowers are being grown; they were all selected to resist the arid climate of Wadi Musa and are irrigated by drip irrigation, ensuring efficient water use.

Bedouin Tribe Embraces Project

HH Sharifa Zein says that it was partly thanks to the creation of this demonstration area that the local Bedouin tribe, the Ammariin, embraced the idea of using treated wastewater for irrigation. “In the beginning they all saw the wastewater treatment plant as an awful and ugly thing, a building that stank. And the treated wastewater that flowed from the plant through the valley was left untouched; the farmers wouldn't even let their livestock drink it… To them the water was impure and haram, and they believed that any animal that had drunk it would become impure and be unfit to sell at the market,” she says. 

She recalls that it took “hundreds of cups of tea and coffee and night upon night of sitting in tents and discussing the project with the community”, before the local farmers of the Ammariin tribe accepted the idea of treated wastewater. “We showed them examples in which treated wastewater had been successfully used for the irrigation of crops in Tunisia. And we were also able to show them a fatwa that had been issued by scholars at Al Azhar University in Cairo, approving the use of treated wastewater for the irrigation of crops. Once they saw the results of the demonstration site they were really convinced: now we have managed to make them see that water is valuable, that it is not just a commodity to be looked down upon and that even this treated water is a precious resource.”

The land on which the treatment plant stands is today owned by the government, but in the past it belonged to the Ammariin tribe. They are therefore the main beneficiaries of the project, and the tribe has been organized in a cooperative of 200 members, with men and women partaking as equal shareholders. “The fact that women are given equal say in the day-to-day management and running of the project is another unique feature of the project,” says HH Sharifa Zein. She explains that the tribe elders were initially reluctant to allow women to participate in such a manner, but they have now also come to see the benefits.

Ismail Twaissi, the agricultural engineer in charge of the project, is very pleased with the results at Wadi Musa. “We really hope to change the lives of local farmers with this project. Before they had to wait for rain, with this project they know they will have a reliable and steady supply. We can already now see the difference,” he says. 

Besides having to get used to the concept of treated wastewater, Twaissi explains that there were many things the farmers had to learn in the initial phases. “The farmers often don't know how to deal with the new crops they are planting,” he explains. “They don’t know when to sow them and when to harvest them; how to apply the right amounts of fertilizer. They also needed help with the use of the drip irrigation system; they had never used this before. There is a lot for them to learn.” 

While animal fodder is the principal crop now, Twaissi points out that a variety of trees have also been planted – both in the demonstration site and on the individual plots. Native trees such as juniper, pistachio, almond and olive have been reintroduced with the aim of restoring plant diversity in the region and combating desertification.

Spin-off Projects Develop