Water supply and sanitation in Yemen

Yemen: Water and Sanitation
Data
Access to an improved water source	62% (2008)
Access to improved sanitation	52% (2008)
Continuity of supply	mostly not continuous
Average urban water use (liter/capita/day)	between 37 (in Taiz) and 94 (in Aden)
Average urban water and sewer bill (US$/month)	n/a
Share of household metering	n/a
Share of collected wastewater treated	n/a
Annual investment in water supply and sanitation	n/a
Sources of investment financing	Mainly by external donors
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities	Yes
National water and sanitation company	Being phased out (NWSA)
Water and sanitation regulator	Planned
Responsibility for policy setting	Ministry of Water and Environment
Sector law	Yes (2002), focused on water resources
Number of urban service providers	15
Number of rural service providers	n/a

This page has last been comprehensively updated in October 2010. Please feel free to update the article as needed.

Water supply and sanitation in Yemen is characterized by a number of achievements and many remaining challenges. The main challenges are severe water scarcity, especially in the Highlands, and a high level of poverty, making it difficult to mobilize financing for investments to increase access or to fully recover the costs of service provision. Access to water supply sanitation is as low as in some Sub-Saharan African countries. Yemen is both the poorest country and the most water-scarce country in the Arab world. In addition, the capacity of sector institutions to plan, build, operate and maintain infrastructure remains limited. The growing scarcity of water is a problem garnering international attention, such as a headline in the Times of London in October 2009, "Yemen could become first nation to run out of water."

Despite these challenges, many things improved in the sector since the mid-1990s when a wide-ranging reform process was initiated, flanked by substantial donor support. Through the reforms urban service provision was decentralized to commercially run local corporations that set their own tariffs. The utilities substantially increased tariffs, despite the political sensitivity of the topic in a poor country, and managed to increase cost recovery. Despite these increases water remains affordable with the average share of total monthly household expenditure on water and sewerage at about 1.1% of total expenditures. The average monthly expenditure on the widely used stimulant qat is about eight times the amount paid for the water and sewer bill. Between 1995 and 2008, 2.8 million people in Yemen gained access to an improved water source and 7.5 million to improved sanitation. According to a survey carried out in 2008 in 7 towns 89% of the customers of water utilities said they were satisfied with the service level of their water utility, and only 9% were dissatisfied. Non-revenue water in urban utilities decreased from about 50% in 1999 to an estimated 28% in 2007. In Sana'a, the collection efficiency of water and sewer bills increased from 60% to 97% during the same period.

The main external donors involved in the water and sanitation sector in Yemen are Germany, the World Bank and the Netherlands. The World Bank's 2003 Water Resource Sector Strategy outlines four key strategies focusing on water resources management that are utilized in Yemen.

Access

Running water is available in many parts of the country, but most villages remain without it. Women in remote areas typically draw water from the nearest well, sometimes walking up to two hours each way twice a day. They may carry the water in pots on their heads or load them onto donkeys.

Statistics on access to water supply and sanitation in Yemen are contradictory. For example, the data from the latest census, carried out in 1997, are very different from data in a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) carried out in the same year. For example, according to the census, 61% or urban households had access to water connections in their home, while according to the DHS the same figure was 70%. For rural areas the order is reversed. The census gives higher figures for access to house connections (25%) than the DHS (19%). The latest data used by the United Nation are from the 2004 Family and Health Survey and the 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. Estimates for 2008 are made based on an extrapolation of trends from previous years.

In 2008, the United Nation’s Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation estimated that only 62% of the Yemeni population had access to improved water source – including 28% from house connections and 34% from other improved water sources such as standpipes. Only 52% had access to improved sanitation. Access to improved water supply, using a broad definition of access, is estimated to be somewhat higher in urban areas than in rural areas (72% vs. 57%). The urban-rural gap is, however, much higher for improved sanitation (94% vs. 33%). Due to rapid population growth, access to water supply actually declined in relative terms from 67% in 1995 to 62% in 2008 despite a substantial increase in absolute access. However, access to improved sanitation increased from 28% to 52% during the same period, according to the estimates.

Service quality

Service quality for water supply and sanitation has many dimensions. For example, service quality for water supply can be measured through the continuity of supply, which is generally low in Yemen, and customer satisfaction, which is surprisingly high. One indicator for the service quality of sanitation is the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants at removing pollutants, which is often low in Yemen.

Continuity of water supply

Continuity of water supply is poor in most Yemeni cities. For example, in Taiz, the frequency of the public piped water delivery is only once about every 40 days. More and more people have to rely on more costly water provided by private wells supplying water tankers. The quality of this water is questionable because these tankers have often been used for other purposes without appropriate cleaning. According to the Ministry of Water and Environment, 15 of 23 urban water utilities provided water every day for between 12 and 24 hours in 2007. These data do not differentiate between utilities with continuous supply and those with intermittent supply of a “moderate” sort (more than 12 hours daily water supply). The 15 cities thus include Sana’a and Aden that provide intermittent water supply. Four other towns provided water on a daily basis, but less than 12 hours per day. The city of Ibb and the town of Bajil provide water only once a week. And the utilities in Taiz and Mahwit provided water only less than once a week in 2007. However, there are potentially conflicting reports about the continuity of supply. For example, the Ministry reported that water was being provided on a daily basis in Amran in 2007. However, 100% of the respondents to a household survey in the same town in 2008 indicated that they received water only once a week or even once a month.

Customer satisfaction

According to a survey carried out in 2008 in 7 towns 89% of the customers of water utilities said they were satisfied with the service level of their water utility, and only 9% were dissatisfied. Even in the city of Ibb, where water supply is highly intermittent, 47% of customers declared they were satisfied. In the town of Amran, where the situation was similar, even 74% of customers were satisfied. It may be that customers have become accustomed to poor service quality and have correspondingly lowered their expectations. 77% of households said that they drank water from the tap.

Wastewater treatment

According to a 2002 report by staff from the Yemeni Environment Protection Agency, there were 10 wastewater treatment plants in Yemen at the time in Sana’a, Taiz, Ibb, Hajaa, Aden, Amran, Al Hodaida, Dammar, Yarem, and Radaa. Most of the plants use the stabilization pond technology, a low-cost technology particularly suitable for a hot climate. Some use Imhoff tanks or the activated sludge procedure commonly used in many developed countries. While data on the quality of treated effluent are limited, those data that are available show that the effluent of at least two plants complies with the relatively lenient national standard of 150 mg/l of Biological oxygen demand, a measure of organic pollution. However, none of the four analyzed plants complied with the standard for fecal coliform, a measure of biological contamination. Reuse of treated and untreated wastewater in agriculture is common in Yemen. Wastewater from hospitals and medical laboratories is discharged into the sewer system, but cannot be adequately treated in the existing municipal wastewater treatment plants. The largest wastewater treatment plant in the country, located in Sana'a, was completed in 2000, but it had to be ugraded in 2003-2005 due to "deficiencies in its operation, unacceptable odor emissions, and inadequate management of the generated sludge".

Water resources

Sana'a, the capital of the Republic of Yemen, is supplied entirely by groundwater, with water levels declining by 6-8 m per year

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History and recent events

The urban water and sanitation sector has undergone important changes since 1995 when an urban water and sanitation reform process including decentralization, commercialization and community participation was initiated. Rural water supply and sanitation underwent similar changes since 2000.

Urban reform and decentralization

Until 2000 urban water and sewer services were provided by a national public enterprise called the National Water and Sanitation Authority (NWSA). According to a study of the reform process, before the reform tariffs were set by the national government at levels insufficient to meet operating costs, the revenues were centrally controlled, civil service salaries were too low to motivate staff; local branches were dependent on headquarters for hiring and firing staff; budgets allocated to branches were inadequate; and centralized procedures and management systems were inadequate to run the branches on a more efficient cost recovery basis.”

A World Bank-funded study, which would become the blueprint of the reform process, was conducted by John Kalbermatten during 1995-6. The study recommended that the urban water and sanitation sector should be decentralized, corporatized and commercialized through the creation of local corporations that would take over service provision from the national utility NWSA. In addition, the private sector was to take a major role in service provision and an autonomous regulatory agency was to be created. This became national policy in 1997.

A small branch of the national utility NWSA in the Al Bayda' Governorate was selected to be a pilot to test the decentralized, commercial approach. The principles on which the reform were based became known by the name of this town as the Rada'a principles which have guided the reform process ever since. They are as follows:

• The Branch will operate independently of NWSA Head Office while remaining accountable to NWSA on regulatory matters and to the Minister of Electricity and Water on policy issues.
• The Branch will be accountable to the community it serves through a Local Advisory Committee which will monitor and review the Branch’s activities.
• The Branch will set its own local tariff and billing system, and retain revenues in its own bank accounts, while paying an overhead contribution for regulatory services.
• The Branch will appoint its own staff, except for the three main management posts which will be via Ministerial resolution on agreed criteria.
• The Branch will apply a staff incentive scheme based on actual performance to supplement staff remuneration according to civil service standards.
• The Branch will prepare monthly operational reports and quarterly and annual statements of account
• The Branch will have its accounts audited by a private auditor.

The first local corporation was created in the Sana'a region in February 2000, followed by Aden in the same year. Five more local corporations were established in 2001 in Taiz, Hodeida, Ibb, Wadi Hadramaut and Al-Mukalla. Two more (Hajjah and Al-Bayda') were established in 2005, four (Sadah, Abyan, Lahj and Dhamar) in 2006, and 2 further (Amran and Ad Dali') in 2008. As of 2009 more than 95% of urban areas were served by 15 local corporations.

According to the newspaper Yemen Observer “the process of decentralization was not smooth; it faced strong resistance from the central organization. Sustainable political will and endorsement of the local administration law helped to overcome these obstacles.” The Local Administration Law No. 4 was passed in 2000.

Rural reform

Concerning rural water supply and sanitation, in a Cabinet Decree (Decree #21 of November 22, 2000) the government ratified a Policy Statement, emphasizing the principles demand-responsiveness, decentralized community-based management and cost recovery. The General Authority for Rural Electricity and Water (GAREW) was responsible for promoting rural water supply and electrification at that time. In 2003 GAREW was also separated along sector lines and the GARWSP created for water supply.

New water law and creation of the Ministry of Water and Environment

“Historically, management of water resources in the Republic of Yemen has been inadequate, with some of the key problems being: water and property rights are not clearly defined; the problems of groundwater mining have led to abstraction rates that exceed recharge by about 80% on average, and in some places abstraction exceeds recharge by 400%; charges for water use are low, or non-existent; water usage is distributed 93% for irrigation purposes, 5% for domestic use, and 2% for industry, and political and economic upheaval over the past decade has resulted in limited institutional capacity, particularly to bring water demand in line with availability. As a major step forward in the process of securing improved water resources management, the Government of the Republic of Yemen (GOY) have prepared a Water Law, which was ratified by the House of Representatives in July 2002.”

In 2002 a new water law was passed, focusing on water resources management. The law did not cover water supply and sanitation infrastructure, but provided a framework to preserve water resources that are essential for the sustainability of water services. While Yemen is a Muslim country and Islamic law is a part of its legal heritage, its present legal system is codified and follows the civil law system. There are two laws from 2002 that are relevant to Yemen water. The first is the Water Law No. 33 of 2002, an Arabic copy of which is available on the Yemeni Public Prosecutor’s website, and the second is the Environment Law No. 26 of 1995, an Arabic copy of which is also available.

In 2003 the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) was created, taking over responsibility for water supply and sanitation from the former the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW). This was seen a sign of political commitment to tackle the challenges Yemen faces in the water sector. Also in 2003, a Performance Indicators Information System (PIIS) was introduced by the Ministry of Water and Environment to monitor and evaluate the performance of the urban water and sanitation service providers at the local and national levels.

National Water Sector Strategy and Investment Program

A major step forward for the sector was the adoption of a National Water Sector Strategy and Investment Program in 2005. One important result has been closer cooperation between the Ministries of Water and Agriculture, as well as between donors. Through the process of joint annual reviews these ministries, their agencies and donors evaluate progress. A regulation study was completed in 2006 and on its basis a draft law to establish an independent regulatory agency is awaiting approval.

National water conservation campaign

In 2008 NWRA launched a national water conservation campaign in partnership with the German development organisation GTZ and the United Nations Development Programme. The campaign's figurehead is a cartoon character in the shape of a raindrop. His name - Rowyan - means "I've had enough water" in Arabic.

Responsibility for water supply and sanitation

Policy and regulation

The Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) is in charge of formulating water policies in Yemen. In the field of water supply and sanitation it is supported by a Technical Secretariat (TS) for Water Sector Reform. The government envisages to create an autonomous regulatory agency for the water and sanitation sector. Four agencies report to the Ministry: The National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) for water resources management, the National Water and Sewerage Authority (NWSA) for urban water supply, the General Authority for Rural Water Supply (GARWSP) for rural water supply, and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

The National Water Resources Authority has set up a branch in Hadramaut, which includes the city of Shibam shown here

The National Water and Sewerage Authority (NWSA) provides technical assistance, establishes sector standards, organizes and implements training programs and establishes data bases for all local corporations until the establishment of a regulatory agency. In addition, it still provides water and sewer services in some urban areas.

The National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) has the mission to manage the nation’s water resources on a sustainable basis, to ensure satisfaction of basic water needs by all but especially by the poor, and to establish a system of water allocation that is fair, yet flexible for meeting varying needs of economically and demographically dynamic sectors. NWRA has branches in Sana’a, Taiz, Sa'dah, Aden, Hadramaut and Hodeida.

The General Authority for Rural Water Supply (GARWSP) provides support to water user associations in rural areas.

Service provision

Urban areas

As of October 2008, 15 Local Corporations (LCs), 13 autonomous public utilities, as well as 16 local branches of NWSA provide services in urban areas.

Local corporations provide services in the largest cities of the country: Aden, Al-Hodeidah, Ibb, Al-Mukalla, Sana'a and Taiz. They also provide services in 9 towns: Abyan, Amran, Al-Bayda', Ad Dali', Dhamar, Hajjah, Lahj, Sadah and Wadi Hadramaut. They thus serve the great majority of the urban population of Yemen. 15 of the 21 governorates of Yemen have a LC and the objective is to have one LC per governorate.

Autonomous public utilities are typically affiliated to the local corporation in their governorate. They are cost centers within the LC. For example, the autonmous utility in Bait al-Faqih reports to the local corporation in Hodeidah, and the autonomous utility in Rada'a, where the reform process had been piloted, reports to the local corporation in Al/Bayda'. Two of the 15 autonomous utilities are still affiliated to NWSA. These two utilities - in Ataq, the capital of Shabwah Governorate, and in Al Mahwit - are located in governorates where there is no local corporation yet. They are in an intermediate state before becoming LCs. The Rada’a Principles apply to all autonomous public utilities.

The local branches of NWSA include the smaller capital cities of governorates where there is neither a local corporation nor an autonomous utility yet. They include Ma'rib, Al Jawf and Al Mahrah as well as the newly created governorate Raymah. It is estimated that less than 5% of the urban population of Yemen live in the 16 local branches that remain with NWSA.

Rural areas

Services in rural areas are provided by thousands of community-based water committees. According to a 2000 World Bank report, at that time communities were insufficiently involved in water system design and government and donor-supported schemes usually fell short of developing effective community construction and management mechanisms. Water committees were imposed local institutions, often suffering from internal management conflicts, leading to negligence of operation and maintenance which resulted in frequent break-downs. More than 50 percent of systems were broken down. Systems were often over-designed, and users can not afford paying the full cost of operating the schemes, let alone producing an operating surplus for the purchase of spare parts and major repairs. In addition, political and tribal leaders frequently demanded that the government allocates its resources to particular projects, thereby interrupting - even abandoning - the work of started schemes. According to a 1996 Review, there were several hundreds of incomplete projects at that time. Little was done in the area of hygiene education, safe drinking water storage, and wastewater and excreta disposal.

Most of the projects require some 'contribution' of the beneficiaries, for example, an up-front down-payment towards investment costs (varying between 5 percent and 30 percent).

In 2007 the World Bank reported that “a Demand Responsive Approach (DRA) has been mainstreamed into all sub-sector interventions throughout the country and is used in all governorates.” Furthermore, a rural water strategy has been finalized, agreed upon by all stakeholders and awaited cabinet approval in early 2008.

Efficiency

In 2001 in urban water systems non-revenue water was estimated to be around 50 percent and the number of staff per 1,000 connections was typically over 10. All utilities suffer from overstaffing, but continue to recruit staff. In 2007, the number of staff per 1,000 connections still varied between 5 and 20, while a level of less than five is considered as typical for an efficient utility. These figures for non-revenue water seem to have improved, however, over subsequent years. In 2007 reported figures for non-revenue water varied between 10% and 55%. The figures at the lower end of the range are from very small utilities. Among the larger utilities the lowest level is achieved in Ibb with 20% and the highest in Hodeidah with 43%. The authors of the report caution that the data quality may be poor. According to the joint annual review of the water and sanitation sector for 2007, average non-revenue water was down to 28% and collection efficiency has risen to 92%. In Sana'a non-revenue water declined from about 50% in 1999 to an estimated 38% in 2007. Collection efficiency increased from 60% to 97%.

Financial aspects

Urban areas

Cost recovery. The accepted norm for cost recovery in urban water supply and sanitation in Yemen is for the tariff to be set such that the operation and maintenance costs are recovered at the least, with the government and donors financing investments. However, in some cases, such as Sana’a, credits by international donors are on-lent to the utility. A few utilities have been able to achieve full cost recovery. One example is the small town Bait al Faqih which has a new system and low losses, indicating a functional and efficient network, and no inherited staff and thus no overstaffing.

Tariff structure. Municipal water tariffs in Yemen are differentiated based on three customer categories: domestic users pay the least, while commercial users as well as government entities pay more. All utilities use increasing-block tariffs, with the lowest block covering a consumption between 5 and 10 cubic meters per month and connection.

Tariff adjustments. The government has shown a willingness to raise tariffs, having done so in 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2001. Further increases have been undertaken subsequently by local corporations. From 1995-2001 the monthly bill increased over 350% for a domestic customer consuming 15 m³/month, and the industrial tariff increased over 150 percent per m3.

Affordability. The share of the water bill for 5 cubic meter per month and household was between 0.5% and 1.1% of income of poor households for the 11 largest utilities in 2007. The share of the sewer bill was between zero and 0.7%. Water and sewer bills were thus highly affordable. The highest combined share of water and sewer bill was found in Sana'a with 1,6%. The average share of total monthly household expenditure on water and sewerage is about 1.1%, which amounts to about YR 1,363, while the average monthly expenditure on qat is about eight times (YR 10,888) the amount paid for water, according to the household budget survey (2005–2006).

Rural areas

In 2000 the majority of rural water systems used some form of cost-recovery, either based on metered water use, or a flat rate.

External cooperation

The main donors for the water and sanitation sector are the World Bank, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), the German Development Bank KfW, the German Technical Cooperation agency (GTZ) and the Netherlands. Other important donors include Japan, UNDP, DFID and the European Union. All donor activities are coordinated under a Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp).

World Bank

An Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Program Project supported by a US$ 150m World Bank credit, approved in August 2002, aims at efficient and sustainable water and sanitation services in major urban areas. Their project has three components. The first rehabilitates and expands the water supply and sanitation infrastructure. The second component supports institutional restructuring and improving managerial capacities of local corporations; and to put in place an appropriate structure for a regulatory body for the urban water and sanitation sector in Yemen. A Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project – with US$ 20m approved in December 2000 and additional financing of US$ 20m approved in January 2008 - aims to expand sustainable rural water supply and sanitation service coverage to mostly poor rural dwellers in ten governorates. Until 2007 140 water sub-projects serving a population of 320,000 were completed. In addition, three consecutive Social Fund for Development Projects financed partly by the World Bank allocated an estimated 15% for rural water supply and sanitation.

Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development

The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), a regional Arab funding institution, has financed several water and sanitation projects in Yemen. Examples are: the construction of the Sanaa' wastewater treatment plant (with a soft loan of around US$ 30 million); the construction of wastewater networks in Sanaa' (first and second phase)(with two soft loans of around US$ 100 million); the expansion of the Sanaa' wastewater treatment plant; the improvement of water and sanitation facilities in Aden (with a soft loan of around US$ 35 million); the construction of wastewater facilities in Seiyun and Tareem (with a soft loan of around US$ 50 million); and the Sanaa' Flood protection project (with a soft loan of around US$ 25 million). In November 2012, Arab Fund signed an agreement to finance the fourth phase of Sanaa' wastewater networks with a soft loan of about US$ 54 million. The construction will be completed before the end of 2015. In addition, AFESD provided several grants for the water and sanitation sector in Yemen.

Germany

Germany has played an important role in the implementation of urban water and sanitation reforms in Yemen since the mid-1990s, including through the support provided by GTZ to the technical secretariat in the Ministry in charge of the sector. GTZ supports the water and sanitation sector through a Euro 23m program for the Institutional Development of the Water Sector over the period 1994-2009. The program supports the decentralization reforms, strengthens local corporations, and establishes water basin committees and water resources management plans through training provided by NWSA and NWRA.

On behalf of the German government KfW development bank provides financing for water and sanitation investments in the city of Aden as well as in the towns of Al Shehr/Al Hami in Mukallah governorate, Mokha, Yarim, Amran, Sa'dah, Zabid, Bajil, Mansouria and Beit al-Faqih, the latter four being located in the Al Hudaydah Governorate. An evaluation of an earlier project for the renewal and expansion of drinking water supply systems in eight provincial towns in Yemen (Bajil, Bait al Faqih, Al Mansouria, Zabid, Mokha, Amran, Yarim und Hajjah), and sanitation measures in three towns (Hajjah, Amran and Yarim) showed that the project largely achieved its objectives related to water supply. The quality of the construction work was rated as high and the collection of bills was considered to be "efficient". However, in Yarim the objective was not achieved due to water shortages. Only "modest improvements" were achieved regarding waste water disposal. Another project to reduce water losses in Taiz and Mukalla was considered a partial failure: On the positive side, the evaluation showed that losses in the rehabilitated areas were reduced significantly. In Mukalla, where 40% of the network was rehabilitated, they were reduced from 22% to 8%. In Taiz, where only 12% of the network was rehabilitated, they fell from 45% to 6%. However, overall losses in the cities remained high at 30% in Mukalla and 47% in Taiz, because only parts of the network were rehabilitated. The cost of the measures was higher than expected due to the poorer than expected state of the network. KfW is now in the process of applying robust, quantitative-based evaluation methods to more accurately assess the health impact of the interventions it supported in Yemeni towns based. This will be done through surveys including both beneficiaries and a control group.

Netherlands

The Netherlands have a long development assistance history in the Water Sector of Yemen (since 1978). Considerable amounts of funds have been used for urban and rural infrastructure projects in water and sanitation, irrigation, water resources assessment and management, but also for capacity development and organisational and institutional strengthening as well as Water Sector Reform.

Until the late nineties the assistance mainly consisted of projects, the slowly shifting to a program approach. Between 2006 and 2009, around € 5 million per year is available for the water sector. Rural Water Supply and Water Resources Management will continue to be the main areas to which funds will be made available.

In February 2006 the Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation at the time, during her visit to Yemen, signed a Public- Private-Partnership (PPP) declaration between three partners: 1) the Ta’iz Water Supply and Sanitation Local Corporation; 2) Vitens N.V. the largest drinking water supply company in the Netherlands; and 3) the Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation. The PPP will implement a 3-year utility support program to improve the management and service delivery of the Ta’iz corporation. The PPP implementation costs a total amount of € 1.5 million.

Japan

JICA focuses its cooperation on rural water supply, building and rehabilitating water supply facilities in 20 remote villages in five governorates, including Sana'a, Ibb and Taiz.

See also

• Peak water
• Water crisis
• Hot stain

Bibliography

• Greenwood, J.E.G.W. and D. Bleackley. 1967. “Geology of the Arabian Peninsula- Aden Protectorate.” Washington, DC: US Geological Survey Professional Paper 560-C.
• Hadden, Robert Lee. 2012. The Geology of Yemen: An Annotated Bibliography of Yemen's Geology, Geography and Earth Science. Alexandria, VA: US Army Corps of Engineers, Army Geospatial Center.
• Richards, Tony. 2002. “Assessment of Yemen Water Law: Final Report.” Prepared for: Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. Page 1.
• Mark Zeitoun, Tony Allan, Nasser Al Aulaqi, Amer Jabarin and Hammou Laamrani:Water demand management in Yemen and Jordan: addressing power and interests, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 178, No. 1, March 2012, pp. 54–66.

External links

• Caton, Steven C.:Anthropology, Harvard University: Yemen, Water and the Politics of Knowledge, 2007
• Yemeni-German Technical Cooperation - Water Sector Program
• Sustaining Water for All in a Changing Climate - The World Bank, 2010, Special case study on water resources in Yemen, pgs. 87-90.