01
City Water System
Jeddah, a Red Sea port and the main air gateway for pilgrims travelling to Makkah, had 3.71 million residents in the city proper at the 2022 census. It has no perennial surface water and depends on desalinated seawater. The Saudi Water Authority, formed in 2024 from the Saline Water Conversion Corporation, regulates the sector and produces desalinated water. The Water Transmission and Technologies Company carries it in bulk, and Sharakat procures privately financed plants. The National Water Company, owned by the Public Investment Fund, distributes water and handles wastewater through its Western Cluster, operated by a private consortium under a contract signed in 2022. Jeddah Municipality manages stormwater drainage.
02
Resources & Supply
Jeddah’s supply is desalinated Red Sea water from coastal plants in the city and at Shuaibah to the south. It reaches consumers through the Rabigh–Jeddah–Makkah transmission system, about 650 km of pipeline that also serves the rest of Makkah Region. The Saudi Water Authority reported Shuaiba-5 output of 665,000 m³ a day in February 2026, 11% above design, and the 600,000 m³-a-day Shuaibah 3 plant, converted to reverse osmosis, entered operation in 2025. Neither source states Jeddah’s share.
Demand peaks in the Hajj season, when the regional system was ready to supply up to 1.3 million m³ a day in 2024. In 2017 more than 20% of water was lost to leakage in the city’s distribution network.
03
Wastewater & Stormwater
Wastewater services have lagged supply. A 2021 King Saud University study found that 50% of Jeddah’s wastewater was treated, against 60% in Riyadh and 78% in Dammam. Since 2023 the privately financed Jeddah Airport 2 plant has added 300,000 m³ a day of treatment capacity. In May 2025 the National Water Company launched 15 wastewater projects worth more than SAR 2.3 billion, including a 14 km sewer tunnel.
Flooding is a separate risk: a record 179 mm of rain fell on 24 November 2022. By end-2024 the municipality’s stormwater projects completed or under way covered 46% of the city, with full coverage targeted for 2033, according to consultant WSP.
04
Investment & Resilience
Recent investment is concentrated in the city’s networks. The National Water Company began 22 projects worth more than SAR 1.8 billion in August 2025, covering about 984 km of pipelines and networks. In April 2025 it completed more than 320 km of drinking-water networks for three districts, and two projects worth over SAR 620 million are lowering surface water levels.
The system’s exposure is structural. Supply depends on a few coastal production sites and one main transmission corridor, and desalination accounted for 17.19% of Saudi Arabia’s CO₂ emissions in 2016. The Kingdom’s Fourth National Communication names Jeddah among three Red Sea cities most vulnerable to sea-level rise.
05
Key Challenges
- Securing a supply that depends wholly on desalination, a few coastal plants and one main transmission corridor.
- Reducing distribution losses, which exceeded 20% in 2017, the latest Jeddah figure available.
- Extending wastewater collection and treatment, with only half the city’s wastewater treated in 2021.
- Protecting districts from flash floods while stormwater drainage remains incomplete.
- Managing seasonal demand peaks during the Hajj and Umrah seasons.
