Teaching Optimal Water-Management Tools in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

To help the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan better understand and manage scarce water resources, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) led a 3-year project to teach local hydrologists to use ground-water flow simulation and constrained optimization techniques. With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the USGS hired Jordanians with a background in geology and taught them hydrogeologic concepts, procedures for improved data management, methods for developing ground-water flow models, and techniques for formulating and applying optimization models. Local case studies and current Jordanian water-management questions were used for teaching along with well-field and country-wide flow models. A combination of computer programs were used, including Excel Solver, GAMS, and the GWM package for MODFLOW. Identical problems were solved with each program to illustrate flexibility and to compare possible approaches. The Jordanian National Water Master Plan, developed by the local German GTZ project, was used with GAMS to illustrate how to optimize a complex problem of water allocation. Technical outreach included working with the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), the local German BGR group, and Jordan University. Following the project, the trainees were hired by the MWI. Further description of the project can be found on http://international.usgs.gov/projects/jd-groundwater.htm.