The Department of Land, Water and Environment was established in 1976 as the Department of Soil and Irrigation, where the service courses of soil and irrigation were offered to the students of the School of Agriculture. In the academic year 1977/1978, the department began offering the specialization programs for the B.Sc and M.Sc. in response to the country's need in this sector. In 1995/96, the School of Agriculture was restructured and the department’s programs were merged under the department of Agricultural Resources and Environment. In response to developments in the sectors of labor market and the scientific research and in line with the need to develop the School of Agriculture, the department expanded from soil to land, and irrigation to water. Thus, the department was renamed as Land, Water and Environment to reflect its new areas of endeavour in the academic year of 2002/2003.
As of 2018, the Department employs five full Professors, one Assistant Professor and to two M.Sc. holders working as full-time teacher and lecturer. The department staff includes seven laboratory supervisors; three with undergraduate and four with master's degrees, in addition to temporary research assistants on various research projects. The department has implemented several research projects financed by the European Union, NATO-SfP, US research bodies (National Academy of Sciences) and local institutions. The research projects have contributed to surveys of water and land resources in the Kingdom, and lead to the establishment of valuable databases that benefit researchers all over the Kingdom. The Department also contributed to the dissemination of modern irrigation methods, methods of land reclamation, establishment of water harvesting techniques, the development of computer models using GIS and remote sensing for the production of of soil, land use, desertification, distribution of agricultural areas and agricultural water consumption. The Department has contributed to providing local, Arab and international labour markets with distinguished graduates in the fields of land, water and the environment. Many of them worked in universities, research centers and decision-making centers in the Kingdom and in Arab, and international agricultural organizations.
Vision statements of the program:
Continuing modernization of educational curricula, learning and research methods to meet the needs of the labour market in the fields of land, water and environment, with a focus on dryland management and finding effective means to manage water scarcity and environmental pollution
Mission statements of the program:
Providing the community with qualified graduates to take their roles in advancing agricultural development, raising environmental awareness and working to solve land, water and environment problems in Jordan through innovation in teaching and scientific research.
Program Aims
1. Preparing and training specialized staff to participate in the labour market of land, water and environment sectors
2. Conducting basic and applied scientific research, which are among the priorities of scientific research, of the agriculture and environment sectors in Jordan.
3. Serving the community through by providing advice, participating in the committees, and conducting studies and laboratory analysis of water, soil and environment.
4. Preparation of scientific staff and distinguished graduates able to work and solve problems related to water and land resources.
5. Adopting and transferring modern technology from modelling, GIS and remote sensing methods for the management of agricultural and environmental resources, thus, ensuring the sustainability of water and land resources.
6. Developing the skills and abilities of graduates in the scientific fields that require investigation, research and analysis for the purpose of providing solutions to local communities.
7. Inculcating in the graduates the concepts of integrated water resource management and sustainable development the environment.