| Abstract: |
[Background and survey objectives] In Jordan, which is one of the water
poorest countries in the world, water supply is generally intermittent. As a
consequence, water supplied by private water vendors via tanker trucks is an
important source of drinking water for many Jordanians. The impacts of
partially illegal private tanker water markets on sustainable water supply in
Jordan’s cities are manifold and complex. The markets significantly contribute
to the welfare of commercial establishments and households. However, they also
have strong negative impacts on sustainability for example through groundwater
depletion. A deepened understanding of emergence, spreading, and functioning
of private tanker water markets in Jordanian cities is a precondition for
developing policies and interventions towards more sustainable water supply
regimes. The study of publicly available data and reports on private tanker
water markets in Jordan revealed that there is a need for empirical data and
investigations on the supply side of private tanker water as well as on the
demand side, especially in terms of commercial establishments who are the
major customers of tanker water within cities. Against this background, in the
period from September 2015 to October 2016 five mostly quantitative surveys
were conducted within the Stanford-led Belmont Forum "Jordan Water Project
(JWP)" in order to collect socioeconomic as well as physical and technical
data about private tanker water supply and demand in three different Jordanian
cities. The objective of the surveys is to provide an empirical basis for two
major fields of investigation: * Socioeconomic studies (e.g. market analyses)
on the impacts of private tanker water markets on water supply in the city of
Amman with a focus on sustainability issues. * Modelling studies on private
tanker water markets in Jordan as part of a hydro-economic model on freshwater
resources sustainability in Jordan (e.g. estimation of demand functions for
piped and tanker water of commercial establishments, simulation of partially
illegal markets of private tanker water providers, spatial statistical
analyses of commercial water consumption). Jordan’s capital Amman was the
location of three surveys targeted at the following key market actors of
tanker water: (i) operators of private wells selling water to private water
tankers, (ii) water tanker drivers purchasing water from private wells and
delivering the water throughout the city of Amman and (iii) commercial
establishments using piped and/or tanker water. In order to broaden the
empirical basis for advanced modelling studies and simulations on the country
level the survey with commercial establishments was repeated in a slightly
modified version with (iv) commercial establishments in the city of Irbid and
(v) commercial establishments in the city of Ajloun. In this discussion paper
the design and methodology of all five surveys is described in detail. For the
Amman surveys in addition the survey locations and the spatial distribution of
interviews are specified and represented by GIS maps. |