81314609-Consultancy services for the project Strong Water Utilities in Jordan

Chronic water scarcity is one of the key obstacles to Jordan"s development. Efforts to reform the supply situation in recent years have been outweighed by the effects of a growing population and high demand. This rapid population growth, along with agricultural expansion and the impacts of global climate change, have increased the pressure on Jordan"s scarce water resources, which have been heavily overused for years. The effects of climate change will significantly reduce the available water resources over the next 20 years (15% by 2040). Also, energy costs for the water sector have increased with the costs of operation reaching more than 50 per cent of the water sector bill in 2021. In the new Jordanian Water Strategy (National Water Strategy 2023 - 2040), measures have been formulated for more efficient management of water resources. Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ), and Water Utilities (WU) now have binding targets for reducing energy costs and water losses (2% per year). The main objective of the Strong Water Utilities (SWU) project is to improve Jordanian water sector main actors" capacity to reduce water losses and energy consumption as well as wastewater management and rural drinking water supply. The SWU aims also to establish processes for reducing water losses by coordinating tasks across responsible units and providing expert advice for standardized operations in WUs. This includes setting up integrated data management tools (for example Technical Asset Management). Also, institutionalize Energy Management System (EnMS) within WUs by improving the skills of professionals and managers within established energy units, continuing identification of measures for energy efficiency, and expanding EnMS (Horizontally by covering more facilities and different facility types, and vertically by anchoring processes in water sector). Additionally, the SWU supports the improvement of wastewater treatment plants operation to be more effective in alignment of operations with the Technical Sustainable Management (TSM) standard. The SWU empowers women's groups in rural areas in Jordan to negotiate concrete measures with WUs to improve the water supply in their villages and support their implementation, helping them communicate their needs and develop community-specific solutions. Consequently, the economic efficiency of water utilities and thus supply quality and safety in the sector are increased. The relevant actors, i.e., the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), WAJ and WUs are strengthened in their respective roles and functions. The project includes four major fields of action: 1. Water loss reduction (non-revenue water) 2. Sustainable Energy Management (ISO 50001 EnMS) 3. Improving Wastewater treatment operation 4. Empowering women in rural areas The project will help to mitigate climate change by directly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The project also supports in improving the operations of the water utilities and internal planning and implementation processes towards less water loss and higher energy efficiency. Furthermore, through effective data management tools, the water sector will be enabled to monitor and evaluate its performance for optimisation. With significant investments in infrastructure already ongoing or upcoming, essential pre-requisites are in place for the measures of the project to lead to lasting improvements. The current focus is on the sustainable establishment of the EnMS in the sector, with tailor-made capacity development measures for the specialists and managers of the energy units in WAJ and WUs to consolidate what has been achieved. The introduction of digital tools supports the standardized and state-wide anchoring of NRW processes and energy management. Important prerequisites for the further improvement of the wastewater treatment plants operations at the technical level and replicating approaches to empower women from rural communities to participate in multi-stakeholder processes.