ABSTRACT
In 1992, a wastewater market assessment in Tunisia was conducted by ONAS. It concluded that farmers would accept water tariffs ranging between US$0.014-0.04/m3 (Bahri and Brissaud, 1996). Surprisingly, a similar study that was conducted in the Jordan Valley concluded that farmers would accept water tariffs ranging between US$0.013-0.052/m3 of reclaimed wastewater (Shatanawi and Salman, 2002). These tariffs are not that different from the existing tariffs in 2002, which vary from one scheme to another. Therefore, some of the operational costs are recovered. Al-Hamdi (2000) concludes that contributions of farmers to recover part of the costs of reclaimed wastewater may only be successful if farmers accept the principle of cost recovery and if alternative water resources are scarce and expensive.
