Stained-glass illustration in blue glass of a robot and towers at the dawn of the infrastructure singularity

Sector guide 13 of 22 · Version 1.1

Wastewater and Reuse in Jordan

Every litre used twice: treated water, energy and nutrients for a dry country.

$946m: forward investment in its own projects
20: projects in this guide
0: in or linked to Aqaba

The sector today

Wastewater and Reuse in Jordan

In a country with so little fresh water, treated wastewater is a resource the country cannot afford to waste. Jordan already reuses more than 90% of its treated wastewater, mostly to irrigate farms in the Jordan Valley, and reuse supplied about 15% of the national water budget in 2021.

The sector has a strong base. Jordan has 31 treatment plants with about 600,000 cubic metres a day of capacity, and the largest, As-Samra, was the country's first PPP. Built and run by a private company under a 25-year concession, it treats about 70% of the country's wastewater and generates most of its own energy from biogas and hydropower.

The next phase is larger and smarter. New plants at Wadi Zarqa and Shallalah, private operation of the northern plants and biogas upgrades will raise capacity, cut energy costs and send cleaner water to farms and industry. This guide sets out where the sector stands, the projects in the Jordan PPP project register, and the opportunities it opens as infrastructure moves towards the singularity.

90%+: Share of Jordan's treated wastewater that is reused, mainly for irrigation, according to the National Water Strategy 2023 to 2040.
31: Wastewater treatment plants in Jordan, with about 600,000 m³ a day of capacity and expansion to 800,000 m³ planned.
133 MCM: Treated water the expanded As-Samra plant supplies each year for irrigation in the Jordan Valley.
80%: Share of As-Samra's own energy needs met by the nearly 13 MW it generates from biogas and hydropower.

The singularity

Reuse is the circular core of the singularity

The infrastructure singularity is the point where roads, grids, ports and water networks become one connected, intelligent system, built by robotics, run by artificial intelligence and financed by tokenization. In that system, a treatment plant becomes a factory that turns waste into water, energy and materials.

Artificial intelligence: Controls aeration, the largest energy cost in a plant, predicts inflows from weather and city data, and matches treated water to the crops and factories that need it each day.
Robotics: Robots inspect sewers and pipelines from the inside, clear blockages and map defects, while automated plants run around the clock with small crews.
Tokenization: Plants and operation contracts pay steady, long-term revenue. Tokenized stakes let Jordanian savers and investors abroad own part of the assets that recycle the country's water.
Energy: Biogas from sludge and hydropower on outfalls let plants power themselves, and surplus energy can feed the grid.
Materials: Nutrients, biosolids and carbon recovered from wastewater become fertilizers, soil improvers and inputs for industry, closing the loop between cities and farms.

Flagship projects

The projects that lead the sector

Pipeline · Zarqa
Wadi Zarqa Wastewater Treatment Plant
Jordan's second-largest plant, planned to relieve As-Samra with 150,000 cubic metres a day in its first phase, a 1.4 MW hydropower unit and a 12-kilometre conveyor. Financed by the EIB and procured as a design, build and operate contract, it is planned for 2030, with a second phase to 350,000 cubic metres a day.
Pipeline · Irbid, Ajloun and Jerash
Operation of Northern Wastewater Treatment Plants
A 15-year performance-based contract for a private operator to run eight treatment plants in two clusters, plus two hydropower plants. A transaction adviser for the second cluster is being appointed, and bidding documents will follow.
Tendering · Irbid
Al-Shallalah Wastewater Treatment Plant
A design-build contract with three years of operation to expand the plant in northeast Irbid from 13,700 to 30,500 cubic metres a day, with nutrient removal, tertiary filtration and biogas use. Prequalification closes on November 16, 2026, with EBRD financing.
Pipeline · Jerash and Kufranja
Jerash and Kufranja Biogas Power Project
A KfW and EU-financed programme to upgrade three treatment plants with sludge treatment and biogas capture to generate electricity, with the works contractor running them for 15 years. Consultants were appointed in September 2026.
Under way · East of Amman
Al Ghabawi Septage Treatment Plant
A 24,750 cubic metre a day plant for tanker-delivered septage, financed by an EBRD loan and an EU grant, which will replace the Ain Ghazal facility and ease the load on As-Samra.
Delivered · Zarqa
As-Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant
Jordan's first PPP, built and run under a build-operate-transfer concession that ends in 2037. It treats about 70% of the country's wastewater for Amman and Zarqa, and a US$28 million further expansion agreement signed in July 2026 is due for completion in 2028.

Every project

20 projects in Jordan’s pipeline

Values in US dollars; * estimated where no figure has been published. Rows in grey sit in another sector and connect to this one.

Project	Location	Stage	Value
Wadi Zarqa Wastewater Treatment Plant (Phase 1)	Wadi Zarqa River	Pipeline	$254m
Operation of Northern Wastewater Treatment Plants	Irbid	Pipeline	$211m*
Madaba Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion	Madaba	Pipeline	$141m
Al Ghabawi Septage Treatment Plant	Al Ghabawi, east of Amman	Under way	$72m
Al-Shallalah Wastewater Treatment Plant	Northeast Irbid	Tendering	$68m
North Balqa Wastewater Treatment Plant	Northeastern Balqa Governorate	Under way	$59m
Ain Ghazal-As-Samra Wastewater Pipeline	Ain Ghazal	Under way	$44m
Jerash and Kufranja Wastewater Biogas Power Project	Wastewater treatment plants at West Jera	Pipeline	$34m
West Irbid Wastewater Treatment Plant	West Irbid	Under way	$30m
Zibar Wastewater Project (Olive-Mill Waste-to-Value)	Near Irbid city	Pipeline	$15m*
Greywater Reuse	Balqa	Open opportunity	$10m*
Sahab Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant	King Abdullah II Industrial City, Sahab,	Pipeline	$8.5m
As-Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant (Phases 1 & 2)	As-Samra	Delivered	$374m*
Yarmouk Water Company Management Contract (Northern Governorates)	Irbid	Under way	$55m*
Al-Ekaider Landfill Rehabilitation	Al-Ekaider landfill	Under way	$49m
Irbid Development Zone Infrastructure	Irbid Development Zone, Irbid	Under way	$23m
Ghabawi Landfill LFG-to-Energy (Cells 4 & 5)	Ghabawi	Under way	$13m
Biogas from Organic Waste	Balqa	Open opportunity	$10m*
Stone-Cutting Slurry Reuse	Sahab Industrial City, Amman	Open opportunity	$10m*
Agricultural Waste to Biochar	Amman	Open opportunity	$10m*

AI, robotics and tokenization

What changes for wastewater and reuse

Artificial intelligence

AI lets a wastewater operator run a plant on live data. Models adjust aeration, the largest energy cost in most plants, predict inflows from rainfall and city data, warn of toxic industrial loads before they reach the biology, and plan sludge and biogas output. With performance-based operation planned for the northern plants, an operator whose models cut energy use and meet effluent standards earns more.

What can be built

Smart aeration. Control systems that set oxygen levels in real time, cutting the energy a treatment plant uses.
Inflow forecasting. Models that predict flows from weather and city data, so plants and pumping stations are ready for storms.
Reuse matching. Software that matches treated water quality and volume to the farms and factories that need it each day.
Sewer intelligence. Sensors and AI that spot blockages, overflows and illegal rainwater connections across the network.

Robotics

Sewers are dark, dangerous and hard to inspect, which makes them ideal work for robots. Crawler robots map pipes and find cracks and blockages, drones check open channels and sludge-drying beds, and automated plants run with small crews around the clock. For the ageing networks of Amman, Zarqa and Balqa, robotic inspection shows which pipes to fix first and keeps workers out of danger.

What can be built

Sewer crawlers. Robots that inspect and map sewers, find cracks and blockages and guide repairs before overflows happen.
Trenchless repair. Lining and patching machines that renew sewers from manholes without digging up streets.
Sludge handling. Automated dewatering, drying and loading of sludge, cutting odour, labour and transport costs.
Plant inspection drones. Drones that inspect tanks, digesters and outfalls, and track solar sludge drying from the air.

Tokenization

A treatment plant under a long-term contract earns steady payments, and its biogas power and reused water add measurable revenue, which suits tokenization. Stakes in a plant or an operation contract could be issued as tokens and paid as the utility pays the operator. Each plant's treated volume, energy output and effluent quality could be published to a shared registry, so holders see what the asset delivers.

What can be built

Plant stakes. Tokens in treatment plants and operation contracts that pay holders from long-term service payments.
Biogas revenue tokens. Shares in biogas and hydropower units at plants, paid from the electricity they sell or save.
Reuse water credits. Tokens for each cubic metre of treated water delivered to farms or industry, tradable between users.
Carbon and nutrient credits. Verified credits for methane captured and nutrients recovered, sold to buyers in Jordan and abroad.

Small PPPs and unsolicited proposals

Small PPPs and research labs

Wastewater suits small PPPs because a unit can be added to a working plant and measured within months. A research lab at the Water Authority of Jordan could run pilots at about $100,000 each, such as a biogas upgrade at a small plant, a solar sludge dryer, or a modular greywater system for a school, and carry what works into the large design, build and operate contracts.

How it works

Unsolicited proposals under Article 15

A company with treatment know-how can propose its own project under Article 15. Ideas include biogas and power units at existing plants, paid from energy savings; reuse lines carrying treated water to industrial estates; septage and sludge treatment for towns where sewer coverage is lowest; wastewater plants for olive mills and food factories; and treated water supply for hydrogen and industrial projects.

How it works

New industries

What the sector can create

01Biomethane and powerUpgrading biogas from sludge, food waste and farm residues into biomethane for vehicles, industry and the grid.
02Nutrient recoveryRecovering phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewater as fertilizers, reducing imports and returning nutrients to Jordanian farms.
03Industrial waterPolishing treated water for mines, power plants, data centers and hydrogen electrolysers, so industry stops drawing on drinking water.
04Olive-mill waste to valueTreating the waste of Jordan's olive mills into irrigation water, compost and energy, starting with the Zibar project near Irbid.
05Modular treatmentPackaged, solar-powered plants for villages, resorts and industrial estates, built in Jordan and sold across the region.
06Sewer robotics and analyticsJordanian firms that inspect, map and monitor sewers with robots and AI, and read city health data from wastewater.

Opportunities

Where partners come in

Tenders: Bid for the design, build and operate contracts at Wadi Zarqa, Shallalah, Madaba and the Jerash and Kufranja biogas programme.
Operation contracts: Operate the northern treatment plants under the planned 15-year performance-based contract, alone or with Jordanian partners.
Direct proposals: Propose a project under Article 15 of PPP Law No. 19 of 2023, such as biogas, reuse lines to farms or sludge-to-energy.
Small-scale PPPs: Regulation No. 9 of 2024 allows small-scale PPPs below about US$14.1 million, which suits greywater reuse, the Sahab industrial plant and olive-mill waste.
Industrial reuse: Supply treated water to industrial estates, mines and power users under long-term contracts, with incentives under the Investment Environment Law.
Investment and ownership: Finance plants through infrastructure funds, development banks and tokenized stakes that open ownership to more investors.

Stained-glass illustration in blue glass of a city of towers under a rising arch

The road to the singularity

2026Shallalah and Wadi Zarqa move through procurement; Al Ghabawi and North Balqa under construction; biogas consultants start work.
2030Wadi Zarqa's first phase relieves As-Samra; private operators run the northern plants; most large plants make their own power.
2035Sewer coverage rises in the north and south; treated water serves industry as well as farms; nutrient recovery becomes routine.
2040AI runs plants and networks as one system, matching every treated litre to a buyer in real time.
2050Jordan's wastewater is a source of water, energy and fertilizer, and the country exports its reuse know-how to the region.

Jordan already reuses almost all the water it treats. The projects in this guide are the next steps towards a country where wastewater is a resource that powers its plants, feeds its farms and supplies its industry.

Download the sector guide (PDF)

Guides for organizations

Launch a PPP program of your own

The guides closest to wastewater and reuse, each showing one kind of organization how to launch a PPP program, with six first steps.

Economic sectors
Water Companies
Your company launches a PPP program to develop desalination, wastewater treatment and reuse, non-revenue water and network projects as public-private partnerships (PPPs) and to run them on performance contracts.
Read PDF
Economic sectors
Circular Economy Companies
Your company launches a PPP program to develop waste collection, sorting, recycling, composting, waste-to-energy and landfill gas projects as public-private partnerships (PPPs) and to turn the waste of the rebuild into materials and power.
Read PDF
Operators and services
Utilities and Operators
Your company launches a PPP operations program to bid for operation and maintenance contracts and full concessions in water, power, transport, ports and waste, run with AI and robotics.
Read PDF
Public sector
Municipalities
Your municipality launches a public-private partnership (PPP) program of small projects at city scale, in parking, street lighting, waste, markets, bus stations, parks, local roads and public buildings, prepared with AI, robotics and tokenization in mind.
Read PDF