Transboundary Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Strategies for Solving the Water Deficit Problem in the Middle East

The SALAM Initiative is a research and development project aimed at developing innovations to reduce the enormous water scarcity in Israel, Jordan and the West Bank. This is based on cross-border, integrated water transfer strategies, consisting of water transfer solutions combined with water exchange agreements, to cover water shortages in Jordan and the West Bank in a cost-effective manner in the coming decades. The SALAM innovations address regional challenges. Available industrial land, particularly in the coastal area, is scarce and expensive due to population growth and increasing urbanisation. These bottlenecks have already led to public opposition to a new desalination plant in northern Haifa, Israel. In contrast to Israel, Jordan’s access to seawater is limited by a short 27 km coastline on the Red Sea, which has a higher salt concentration of about 43 000 ppm than the eastern Mediterranean at 38 000 ppm.