01
National Water Context
The United Arab Emirates had an estimated 11.5 million residents in 2025, about 86% of them in urban areas, and almost no renewable fresh water. The World Bank puts internal renewable resources at 0.15 billion m³ a year, and long-term average rainfall is 78 mm. Total demand is officially estimated at about 5 billion m³ a year. On the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure’s published breakdown, groundwater meets 46% of it, desalinated seawater 42%, treated wastewater 11% and surface water 1%. On the UN’s SDG 6.4.2 measure, withdrawals equalled 1,437% of renewable freshwater in 2023. Most of the groundwater in use is therefore not replenished.
02
Resources & Demand
Demand divides between the farms and the cities. In 2022 agriculture accounted for 51% of freshwater withdrawals and domestic use for 48%, with industry about 1%, on World Bank figures that exclude desalinated water. Farms depend on groundwater, which supplies 93% of irrigation water; national abstraction of about 2.3 billion m³ a year is roughly fifteen times the renewable resource. In Abu Dhabi, groundwater makes up 60% of the water consumed and only 3% of it is fresh. Demand for desalinated water is still rising: in Dubai, DEWA’s desalinated water demand grew 6.6% in 2025, and the daily peak reached 487 million imperial gallons (MIGD).
03
Infrastructure & Governance
There is no single national water utility or regulator. The federal Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure sets water policy and manages 109 dams, but production, networks, wastewater and tariffs are organised emirate by emirate. Abu Dhabi runs an unbundled single-buyer market: EWEC buys all water production, TRANSCO transmits it, ADDC and AADC distribute it, TAQA Water Solutions handles all wastewater and reuse, and the Department of Energy regulates the sector. In Dubai, DEWA is a vertically integrated listed company, the RSB is the sector regulator, and Dubai Municipality runs sewerage. SEWA serves Sharjah, and the federal Etihad Water and Electricity serves the Northern Emirates. Abu Dhabi holds 4.74 of the country’s 7.80 million m³ a day of desalination capacity.
04
Investment & Resilience
New supply is moving from thermal desalination to reverse osmosis (RO). EWEC’s Taweelah RO plant reached its full 200 MIGD in 2024, and EWEC’s planning targets more than 90% of Abu Dhabi’s water demand being met by RO by 2030. DEWA plans to raise Dubai’s capacity from 495 MIGD in 2024 to 735 MIGD by 2030. The first phase of its AED 3.377 billion Hassyan seawater RO plant was about 90% complete in January 2026. Sharjah signed for its first independent desalination plant, Al Hamriyah, in 2024. Abu Dhabi’s regulator projected AED 16.2 billion of investment in water, electricity and wastewater networks over 2023–2026. The Water Security Strategy 2036 targets national water storage of up to two days.
05
Key Challenges
- Groundwater abstraction, mostly for farms, far exceeds recharge: Abu Dhabi’s policy aims to reduce extraction from 24 times the recharge rate to 16 times by 2030.
- Desalination, which meets 42% of national demand, relies on coastal plants while the fleet shifts from thermal processes to reverse osmosis.
- Reuse of treated wastewater, at 73%, remains short of the 95% targeted for 2036.
- Water planning, regulation and data are divided among seven emirates and four separate utility systems.