Jordan: Water from Washington

For centuries, the people of Jerusalem and Bethlehem have struggled to slake their thirst from the waters of Solomon's Pools—a chronically inadequate reservoir system eight miles south of Jerusalem. When a severe drought early this year indicated that even Solomon's skimpy source would be dry by late summer, Jordan's plucky little King Hussein braced himself for bloody water riots that have broken out during previous droughts. Then, in April, Central Water Authority Director Oliver Folsom, 53. a burly California irrigation expert on loan to Jordan from the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), produced an idea. He proposed to...