The much-talked-about Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project might be losing its regional components. Two independent sources have told Al-Monitor that this comes as a result of continued Israeli-Jordanian tensions.

A source in the lead technical company that is carrying out the Red-Dead study told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the company has been instructed by Jordan’s Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazim el-Nasser to revise the study and make it a Jordan-only project.

Jordan, Palestine and Israel signed on Dec. 9, 2013, a regional cooperation memorandum of understanding at World Bank headquarters. The agreement — signed by Palestinian Minister of Water and Irrigation Shaddad Attili and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom along with Nasser — supports the management of scarce water resources in the region and the joint development and use of new water resources through seawater desalination.

The memorandum was followed up in February 2015 with a $900 million water distribution bilateral agreement between Jordan and Israel, which would benefit Palestinians as well. The agreement calls for Jordan to sell to Israel the desalinated water from the Red Sea and in return Israel would provide Jordan and Palestine with potable water. The Economist magazine’s intelligence unit predicted in March 2015 that progress on this project “will be vulnerable to political sensitivities at times.” The agreement is now in the process of implementation.