Commercial water use in Qatar rose from 25.8 million cubic metres in 2018 to 94.0 million in 2023, according to National Planning Council statistics: more than three and a half times its earlier level, and an average of 30% a year. Over the same years agriculture, the largest user in 2018, fell from 310.0 million to 255 million cubic metres.
Towns overtake farms
Government use rose from 122.0 million to 203.7 million cubic metres, 11% a year. Household use grew from 255.9 million to 309.0 million in the council's detailed table, although its summary chart gives 299 million for 2023. Total water from all sources was 1,065 million cubic metres in 2023. Farms draw mainly on groundwater while homes, offices and public buildings use desalinated seawater, so the change moves demand onto desalination, which supplied 63% of all water in 2023.
Industry uses more per riyal
Industrial use climbed from 35.6 million to 45.0 million cubic metres while industrial output fell. Water per riyal of industrial GDP rose from 0.09 to 0.11 litres, making industry the only sector in the series to become less efficient. Farms moved the other way: water per riyal of agricultural output fell from 213 litres to 126 litres.
Cooling is the next pressure
District cooling reached 1.2 million tonnes of refrigeration, 19% of Qatar's cooling capacity, and KAHRAMAA, the national water utility, projects a 24% share by 2030. A ban on potable water in cooling stations pushes those plants towards treated wastewater: 36 of 72 stations had switched by 2025, saving 17.1 million cubic metres that year.
The full report examines what this article does not: whether desalination capacity stays ahead of demand to 2029, how current use compares with the 2030 ceiling of 310 litres per person a day, what customers pay and who sets the price, and how far farms draw groundwater beyond the aquifers' safe yield. The full report, Qatar Water Intelligence Report, is available for USD 999 at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/reports/qatar-water-intelligence-report. For a free overview, see https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/countries/qatar.