Given the limitations on natural water resources in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom relies on desalination facilities to meet the increasing domestic water demand, with 90 percent of Saudi Arabia’s water demand met by desalinated water and 10 percent by ground and surface water by 2030.
Saudi Arabia’s water supply sources consist of groundwater from deep aquifers, surface water, renewable water, desalinated water, and treated wastewater. The average share of total water supply from nonrenewable groundwater sources doubled from 37% in 1980 to 67% in 1990, then steadily declined to 61% in 2020. Similarly, the share of surface and renewable water from precipitation has declined over the last thirty years as the contribution of desalination and wastewater reuse increased.
Desalination plays a significant role in the domestic water supply in Saudi Arabia. In 2023, the Kingdom saw a 31 percent increase in desalinated seawater production, which accounted for 50 percent of the country’s distributed water supply, up from 44 percent in 2022. In 2020, wastewater use increased significantly to 1,680 million m³ from 116 treatment plants across the country, accounting for almost 11% of the total water supply in the Kingdom. Additionally, water reuse consumption increased by 12 percent to 555 million m³. Saudi water supply for agricultural purposes has sharply declined due to a decrease in forage cultivation. In 2020, 80 % of agricultural water consumption, or 8.5 billion m3/year, came from nonrenewable groundwater resources, while 20% came from regenerated water, or 2.2 billion m3/year. Given the limitations on natural water resources in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom relies on desalination facilities to meet the increasing domestic water demand, with 90 percent of Saudi Arabia’s water demand met by desalinated water and 10 percent by ground and surface water by 2030.
Saudi Arabia faces severe water scarcity driven by rapid population growth, agricultural demand, and industrial expansion, all set against the backdrop of virtually no perennial rivers or lakes. The kingdom relies heavily on non-renewable fossil aquifers, particularly the vast but rapidly depleting Saq Aquifer, which has been drawn down dramatically over decades of intensive irrigation. Desalination currently supplies over 70% of the country’s drinking water, making Saudi Arabia one of the world’s largest producers of desalinated water, though the process is enormously energy-intensive and costly.
To address these pressures, the government has implemented several conservation strategies under Vision 2030. These include raising water tariffs to discourage overuse, investing in the reuse of treated wastewater for agriculture and landscaping, and modernizing irrigation infrastructure to reduce losses. The country has also curtailed subsidies for water-intensive crops like wheat, which were historically grown at great environmental cost. New mega-projects such as NEOM are being designed with water-efficient systems from the ground up.
Climate change compounds these challenges significantly. Rising temperatures in the Arabian Peninsula are accelerating evaporation, reducing the already minimal rainfall, and intensifying heat-driven water demand for cooling and agriculture. Addressing climate issues, primarily by transitioning away from fossil-fuel dependence, would reduce the energy costs of desalination and slow the regional warming trend that worsens aridity. Saudi Arabia’s own ambitious renewable energy targets, including a goal of 50% renewable electricity by 2030, are therefore directly relevant to long-term water security.
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Saudi Arabia Country Managers, Abeer Abdulkareem and Amgad Ellaboudy.