Opening the third ordinary session of the 20th Parliament, His Majesty King Abdullah II called water security a national priority with no room for compromise. He directed the government to draw up proactive plans to protect the nation’s resources. In this article, Yousef Khalil, ISDI’s Director of Research and Policy Development, reads that directive against the numbers as they are. Renewable water per person stands at about 61 cubic metres a year, the annual deficit is about 450 million cubic metres, and about 75% of the country’s groundwater basins are drawn on more heavily than rainfall returns to them. ISDI sees the National Water Conveyor as an indispensable pillar but not the whole solution. It identifies water losses, now about 41%, as the cheapest resource Jordan can win back. The article traces how pressure travels between energy, water and public finances in a loop that returns to where it began. It closes with four recommendations: treat loss reduction as a national water project; protect the groundwater basins in partnership with farmers; handle the Yarmouk as a diplomatic file as much as a technical one; and build a single governance structure that publishes an annual national water security indicator for Parliament.