Qatar

National Water Context

Qatar had an estimated 3.14 million residents in mid-2024, almost all of them in urban areas, and no perennial rivers or lakes. Rainfall is its only natural source of fresh water, recharging the aquifers by an average of 74.7 million m³ a year over 1998–2023. The country has therefore built its water system around the sea. In 2023 desalinated seawater provided 669 million m³, 63% of total water production and virtually all drinking water; fresh groundwater supplied 19% and reused treated wastewater 18%. On Qatar’s own reporting, withdrawals were 236% of renewable freshwater in 2023. The UN/FAO compilation puts the figure at 431%.

Resources & Demand

Demand splits between the cities and the farms. In 2023 households used about 300 million m³, government 204 million and commercial activity 94 million. Commercial use grew fastest, by an average of 30% a year since 2018. Agriculture used 255 million m³, down from 310 million in 2018, and relies mainly on groundwater: agricultural wells accounted for an estimated 180 million of the 200 million m³ abstracted in 2023. That total is about four times the aquifers’ long-term safe yield and remains a model-based estimate. KAHRAMAA has planned flowmeters for wells. Qatar’s aquifers belong to the Umm er Radhuma–Dammam system, which it shares with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Infrastructure & Governance

Responsibility for the water cycle is split three ways. Privately financed independent water and power producers run the coastal desalination plants. The largest is Nebras Energy, formerly Qatar Electricity & Water Company, which reports a 73% share of the country’s water. KAHRAMAA, the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation, buys their output and owns and operates the national transmission and distribution network, reservoirs and pumping stations. Since 2015 it has also been the national groundwater authority. Ashghal, the Public Works Authority, owns the sewers, treatment works and treated-effluent network. Qatar has enacted Law No. 23 of 2025 on water; in June 2026 its compliance period was extended by six months.

Investment & Resilience

The next increase in supply is already financed. In May 2025 KAHRAMAA signed the strategic agreement for Facility E at Ras Abu Fontas, a QAR 13.5 billion power and water plant with 110 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) of desalination. Its project finance, about US$2.97 billion, was signed in January 2026. KAHRAMAA expects capacity to rise from 538 MIGD in 2024 to 648 MIGD after commissioning in 2028, against 2024 demand of 420 MIGD. Storage is the main buffer against disruption at coastal plants: KAHRAMAA reports reserves rising from 1.3 days of supply in 2010 to 5.2 days in 2024. Ashghal is building Qatar’s first wastewater public–private partnership, the QAR 5.4 billion Al Wakrah and Al Wukair treatment works, with the contract value including 25 years of operation.

Key Challenges

1. Bringing groundwater abstraction, mostly by farms, closer to the aquifers’ long-term safe yield of 49.6 million m³ a year.
2. Securing drinking water that depends almost entirely on desalination at three coastal sites, fuelled by natural gas.
3. Putting more treated wastewater to use: 13.1% went to open lagoons unused in 2023, and the volume used on farms fell from 79.7 to 70.7 million m³ between 2018 and 2023.
4. Implementing the 2025 water law across three institutions whose roles divide production, networks and wastewater.

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