In arid and semi-arid climates, evaporation loss from water reservoirs can be potentially large. In Jordan, losses from evaporation were reported to be 91.8% of the total annual rainfall in 2014-2015, which is equivalent to 8,154 Mm3 (Jordan Department of Statistics, 2018). However, information on evaporation from artificial (man-made) or open reservoirs in Jordan is scarce, and there is a need to understand the trends of evaporation to inform decisions related to potential technical solutions that can reduce evaporation from man-made reservoirs and provide more water for communal use.
The report is organized into three parts:
1- Estimation of evaporation from open water surfaces in North and Middle governorates in Jordan with the use of WaPOR remotely sensed data: The output is monthly and annual maps and tabular information on gross evaporation, rainfall and net evaporation from open water surfaces over ten years; from 2009 to 2019.
2- Evaporation reduction methodologies: this part provides a review of popular methodologies that are used worldwide to control evaporation from open water surfaces,
and websites of international providers of these technologies. Also, a rapid market scan of technologies available in Jordan and local providers are also covered in this part.
3- Cost-savings analysis (CSA): this part includes a general methodology to conduct a CSA of different technologies, with a case study on one of the WIT communal projects. The analysis is intended to provide a criterion for comparing and selecting the best possible technology based on its efficiency in terms of saving volume only and cost. It is not intended to provide a full understanding of the monetary value of water that is additionally saved due to the application of technology or other social, ecological and environmental benefits that can be gained. A detailed CSA will require a detailed study to track the usage of saved water and estimate its monetary value based on the type of use and its return which is out of the scope of this study. This section also illustrates the case study of Queen Rania Pond and the methodology which can be used as an example for rapid cost-savings analysis and can be applied for other reservoirs or communal projects.