Qatar's national utility put 666 million cubic metres of water into its system in 2025, less than the 671 million it produced in 2019. Across the seven years KAHRAMAA reports, annual production never left a narrow band between 666 and 691 million cubic metres.
Growth without more water
KAHRAMAA served 459,600 water customers in 2024, up 4.2% in a single year. The National Planning Council put the population at 3,143,491 in mid-2024. Meanwhile, KAHRAMAA's measure of potable consumption per person fell from 214 cubic metres a year in 2019 to 190 in 2023, on its maximum-population basis.
Headroom on paper
Production of 676 million cubic metres in 2024 averaged about 407 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD), roughly level with that year's 420 MIGD peak demand. Desalination capacity was 538 MIGD, so average output used about 76% of it. KAHRAMAA forecast peak demand of 428 MIGD for 2025 and expects capacity to reach 648 MIGD after the next plant is commissioned in 2028.
What sits behind the tap
More than 99% of Qatar's drinking water comes from desalination, according to regional analysis published in June 2026, and strategic storage stood at 5.2 days in 2024. Real physical losses were 5.71% of system input in 2023, up from 3.97% in 2019. Groundwater plays almost no part in drinking supply: of an estimated 200 million cubic metres abstracted in 2023, 180 million went to farm wells.
How large the margin stays after 2025, how exposed the plants are to the regional attacks of April 2026, and whether the 2030 groundwater targets can be met are all covered in the report. The full report, Water Security and Supply Outlook in Qatar, is available for USD 249. For a free overview, see Qatar Country Snapshot.