If human rights were part of financial due diligence…

… the US development bank, OPIC, might not have helped supply Jordanians with radioactive water.

Jordan is the second most water-poor country in the world, pumping just enough water to reach most Amman households for one day a week. It’s also resource poor, so relies on donors and lenders to keep its economy afloat.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, America’s development finance bank, joined with European banks recently to bankroll a new water supply project in Jordan.
It seemed like a winning plan — Jordanians get water, the government gets infrastructure, and lenders get to reap revenues from the project.
The Disi water pipeline was built without a full analysis of the human rights risks it could pose to Jordanians. Those risks, we found, were real.

Reem, one of Jordan’s finest reporters

Your donations helped us partner with an investigative water reporter, to go neighborhood to neighborhood looking at complex connections between civil disobedience and access to water. Beyond the politics of water allocation, we obtained water quality results revealing that Disi water radionuclide levels exceed safe levels. We can’t turn off the pipeline, but we can ensure that treatment processes are adequate to safeguard public health. That work is ongoing, while we also establish recommendations for financial institutions planning future engagement in Jordan’s challenging water sector.

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