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The King Abdullah Canal is the largest irrigation canal system in
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
and runs parallel to the east bank of the
Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...
. It was previously known as the East Ghor Main Canal and renamed in 1987 after
Abdullah I of Jordan Abdullah I (Abdullah bin Hussein; 2 February 188220 July 1951) was the ruler of Jordan and its predecessor state Transjordan from 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir of Transjordan, a British protectorate, until 1946, when h ...
.


Water sources and technical features

The main water source for the King Abdullah Canal (KAC) is the
Yarmouk River The Yarmuk River (, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk) is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel, and drains much of the Hauran plateau. Its main tributaries are ...
and the Al-Mukhaibeh wells within the Yarmouk valley: farther south, additional water flows from Wadi el-Arab and from the
Zarqa River The Zarqa River (, ''Nahr az-Zarqāʾ'', lit. "the River of the Blue ity) is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmouk River. It is the third largest river in the region by annual discharge and its watershed enc ...
, and its reservoir behind King Talal Dam. As a result of the 1994
Israel–Jordan peace treaty The Israel–Jordan peace treaty (formally the "Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan"),; Hebrew transliteration, transliterated: ''Heskem Ha-Shalom beyn Yisra'el Le-Yarden''; ; Arabic transliteration: ' ...
, some Yarmouk River water is also stored seasonally in Lake Tiberias, being conveyed through a pipe. The canal's design capacity is 20 m3/second at the northern entrance of the Canal and 2.3 m3/second at its southern end. Water flows by gravity along its 110 km length, ranging in elevation from about 230 meters below sea level to almost 400 meters below. The Canal supplies water for irrigation and 90 million cubic meters/year of drinking water for Greater Amman through the Deir Allah-Amman carrier, which has been constructed in two phases in the mid-80s and in the early 2000s. The Zarqa River contains a mixture of treated wastewater and natural water flow, which influences the water quality downstream of the Zarqa River intake into the KAC.


History

The canal was designed in 1957 and was built in phases. Construction began in 1959, and the first section was completed in 1961. By 1966, the upstream portion to Wadi Zarqa was completed. The canal was then 70 km in length, and was subsequently extended three times between 1969 and 1987. The
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, through
United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...
(USAID) provided financing for the initial phase of project, after obtaining explicit assurances from the Jordanian government that Jordan would not withdraw more water from the Yarmouk than the amount allocated to it according to the Johnston Plan. It was also involved in later phases. The original canal was part of a larger project - the Greater Yarmouk project - which envisioned two storage dams on the Yarmouk, and a future West Ghor Canal, on the West Bank of the Jordan. This other canal was never built, because Israel captured the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
from Jordan during the 1967
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
. After the Six-Day War, the
Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...
(PLO) operated from bases within Jordan, and launched several attacks on
Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...
s in the Jordan Valley, including attacks on water facilities. Israel responded with raids in Jordan, in an attempt to force
king Hussein Hussein bin Talal (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Hussein was traditionally considered a 40th-generati ...
to rein in the PLO. The canal was the target of at least four of these raids, and was virtually knocked out of commission. The United States intervened to resolve the conflict, and the canal was repaired after Hussein undertook to stop PLO activity in the area. On June 2, 2025 The Jordan Valley Authority, supported by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and security forces, uncovered and removed 873 illegal water-access violations along the 110 km King Abdullah Canal between January and May 2025—primarily unauthorized siphoning for irrigation and pool-filling. This enforcement operation successfully reclaimed approximately 226,107 m³ of water, raising canal efficiency from 82 % to 87 %, and led to the confiscation of pumps, the referral of seven legal cases, and multiple violators being summoned. These efforts, backed by toughened legislation imposing fines and prison terms, are ongoing to further safeguard Jordan’s vital water resources.


References

{{Portal, Jordan Irrigation projects Water politics in the Middle East Jordan River Canals Water supply and sanitation in Jordan