Drip irrigation lines wind between roots at the Abu Obeida mosque in Deir Alla, Balqa, sustaining an unlikely oasis of trees and flowerbeds against bare ochre hills in the Jordan Valley. The water supplying this greenery does not come from municipal pipes, but rather from the taps where worshippers wash before prayer.
Muslims across Jordan perform wudu five times a day, utilizing water that carries heavy significance in a kingdom receiving just 61 cubic metres of renewable fresh water per person annually. That figure sits at less than one-eighth of the United Nations absolute water scarcity threshold of 500 cubic metres.
“People here understand water scarcity because they live it every day,” Ahmed al-Rawsan, founder of the Jordanian Aqua Conservation Association (JACA), said. “What we wanted to show is that the mosque, which already teaches conservation as a religious value, can practise it too.”
Jordan houses a population of 11.3 million people, nearly 11 million of whom are practising Muslims, and relies heavily on imported food. Municipal water is rationed and delivered by pipe for as little as 12 hours a week in certain areas, forcing households to depend on rooftop tanks.
Pipes installed beneath the ablution area at the Abu Obeida mosque carry used water to a treatment unit, where it is cleaned and filtered before flowing to outside bushes and trees. A 2025 peer-reviewed study estimates that 3.6m mosques worldwide use 22.5m cubic metres of water for ablution annually.
“Mosques do not use soap during wudu, so there are no chemicals to complicate treatment,” al-Rawsan explained. The water undergoes natural sedimentation by passing through five layers of gravel and sand before redirection.
The Ministry of Awqaf, a key project partner whose logo appears on a stone wall sign at the mosque, reports more than 7,600 mosques across the kingdom. Expanding the recycling system took JACA 18 years to reach 18 mosques and schools due to financial, technical, and bureaucratic hurdles.
“In every mosque, the same question arose: who would take responsibility for the system once it was installed?” al-Rawsan said regarding maintenance challenges. Between 2017 and 2024, the ministry implemented rainwater harvesting projects in more than 50 mosques, while over 35 mosques now use ablution water for irrigation and cleaning, according to ministry spokesperson Mohammad al-Tawalbeh.
Jordan already fully reuses approximately 150m cubic metres of wastewater annually, with about 90% directed to irrigation, according to Mu’tasim Sa’idan, a former minister of irrigation. However, Sa’idan expressed skepticism regarding the broader potential of ablution water, noting that the overall quantities are not as large as commonly imagined.
Public awareness campaigns face similar limitations regarding actual water savings. Abdullah Khaled, an Amman worshipper, said that sermons about severe water shortages do not always alter daily household habits.
A 2025 peer-reviewed study estimates that 3.6m mosques worldwide consume roughly 22.5m cubic metres of water annually for ritual washing.
There are more than 7,600 mosques throughout the kingdom, according to the Ministry of Awqaf.
Used water passes through five layers of gravel and sand for natural sedimentation without chemical treatments, as worshippers do not use soap during wudu.
The kingdom receives just 61 cubic metres of renewable fresh water per person each year, well below the United Nations absolute scarcity threshold of 500 cubic metres.
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