Muscat

City Water System

Muscat’s water system is organised at governorate level: six wilayats from historic Muscat and Mutrah to Bawshar, As Seeb, Al Amrat and Qurayyat, with 1.53 million registered residents at end-2025. Responsibility is unusually concentrated. Nama Water Services is the sole provider of water distribution and wastewater services. Nama Power and Water Procurement (Nama PWP) buys all bulk desalinated water from independent producers. The Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR) licenses the utility, approves bulk water prices and compiles sector statistics. Muscat Municipality handles stormwater and wadi drainage and is the main user of treated effluent, while the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources manages groundwater, wells and dams.

Resources & Supply

Oman withdraws more water than it renews, and desalinated seawater has supplied the capital since the early 1970s. Within the Muscat Zone, Nama PWP contracts two reverse-osmosis plants, Ghubrah II (191,000 m³ a day) and Qurayyat (200,000 m³ a day), while Nama Water Services runs three smaller plants and wellfields. These local sources cannot meet projected demand, so water is also transferred in from the neighbouring Barka Zone.

Muscat produced 202.2 million m³ in 2025 (provisional) and distributed 133.4 million m³, of which 7.5 million m³ went by tanker. Average demand in the zone, estimated at 606,000 m³ a day in 2025, is projected to reach 677,000 m³ a day by 2032.

300,000 m³/dayGhubrah III contracted desalination capacity

~242,000 m³/dayAvailable transfers from the Barka Zone

774,000 m³/dayPeak water demand

Wastewater & Stormwater

Wastewater services lag well behind water supply. Across Nama Water Services’ licensed area, Oman excluding Dhofar, wastewater coverage was 31.7% in 2025, against 72.4% for water. In Muscat the utility is extending sewers and treatment capacity: the main Seeb plant was expanded from 62,000 to 82,000 m³ a day in 2024, and a public–private tender to enlarge the Al Ansab and Al Amerat plants reached the bidding stage in 2026. Treated effluent, used mainly for landscape irrigation, achieved 96.56% compliance with quality standards in Muscat in 2025. Flood exposure is high: nearly 45% of the capital is reported vulnerable to wadi floods and about 20% to coastal flooding.

82,000 m³/daySeeb wastewater treatment plant capacity

96.56%Treated-effluent compliance with quality standards

~207,000 m³/dayAl Ansab plant capacity after Phase III

Investment & Resilience

The largest supply addition under way is Ghubrah III, a 300,000 m³-a-day desalination plant costing about RO 125 million, 93% built in November 2026, with operations expected in the second quarter of 2027. A water purification plant at Wadi Dayqah Dam, 57% complete in October 2026, is due to be operational in May 2027 with 35,000 m³ a day of drinking-water capacity.

In July 2026 Nama Water Services awarded a 15-year performance-based operations contract worth about RO 900 million for Muscat and the two Sharqiyah governorates; it targets cutting water loss from 34% to 11% by 2040. The Wadi Adai flood protection dam in Mutrah was 53.7% complete in June 2026.

Key Challenges

Meeting rising peak demand, which Nama PWP projects will reach 774,000 m³ a day in the Muscat Zone by 2032.
Bringing Ghubrah III into operation on its revised 2027 schedule while local sources still depend on transfers from the Barka Zone.
Managing network water losses, which Nama Water Services put at 37.1% across its licensed area in May 2025.
Extending sewer connections and treatment capacity to narrow the gap between water and wastewater coverage.
Protecting the capital from wadi and coastal flooding while dam and drainage works are completed.