Economics of Water Savings Under the Jordan Water Innovation Technologies Project

The Water Innovations Technologies (WIT) project is a five-year project funded by USAID and implemented by Mercy Corps with the primary purpose of increasing water savings in Jordan. This research leveraged relevant data, information, and studies already completed as part of WIT to 1) estimate the cost-effectiveness of investment in each WIT activity in terms of promoting the adoption of water saving approaches (WSAs) by households, farmers and communities; and 2) assess the motivations for and costs/benefits of WSAs adopted as part of WIT to both private (i.e., suppliers, farmers, and households) and public actors (i.e., USAID and Mercy Corps). The findings suggest that a) funding water saving projects in Jordan, particularly with a Market Systems Development (MSD) component, may be less expensive than other alternatives; and b) WSA adoption often has a positive return on investment for the adopter even if they bear the full cost of adoption, and therefore, should be strongly encouraged as part of government policy and donor funding.