Bahrain's National Adaptation Investment Plan, published in 2025, prices its water component, Scaling Wastewater Reuse for Climate Resilience, at BD 245 million in 2023 prices. That is 40% of the plan's total of about BD 605 million, or about US$1.61 billion. The water concept note is still seeking finance.
Effluent sent to sea
The plan's own figures make the case. Less than 10% of Bahrain's tertiary treated sewage effluent is used productively, and almost all high-quality effluent from the Muharraq plant is discharged to sea. The Ministry of Works projects effluent demand rising from 232,636 m³ a day today to 612,276 m³ a day by 2050.
Pipes and aquifers
Most of the money would go to two things: BD 107.0 million to expand effluent transmission and distribution networks, and BD 100.5 million for managed recharge of the Dammam aquifer. A BD 0.5 million recharge pilot at Muharraq was targeted for 2025; its completion has not been reported.
The funding so far
The only water adaptation funding shown as disbursed is a Green Climate Fund grant of US$2.32 million, about 0.14% of the plan's total. It paid for a knowledge platform and planning guidelines, and its results were presented at a ministerial workshop on 2 September 2026. The plan proposes sovereign green bonds or sukuk, concessional loans and private capital. Private money is pencilled in for an industrial feedwater component, which depends on a cost-plus effluent tariff that Bahrain does not yet have.
The full report sets out how reuse fits Bahrain's wider supply and demand balance, why the aquifer matters as a strategic reserve, how tariffs and subsidies affect the economics, and which institutions would deliver the programme. The full report, Bahrain Water Intelligence Report, is available for USD 999 at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/reports/bahrain-water-intelligence-report. For a free overview, see https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/countries/bahrain.