Water in Qatar

Qatar is a low limestone peninsula with no rivers and scarce, erratic rain.^1 2 Desalination supplies 99% of its drinking water, while almost all wastewater is now treated and reused.^2 3 Farms draw most of the groundwater, pumping it far beyond its safe yieldSafe yield A measure of sustainable groundwater use: the most that can be pumped from an aquifer while the effects, such as falling water levels or worsening water quality, remain acceptable. Source: Alley, Reilly and Franke, Sustainability of Ground-Water Resources, Circular 1186, US Geological Survey (1999).^1 4 Storage is the buffer against a supply that depends on the sea.¹

Qatar’s water once came only from the ground. In the north, fresh groundwater floats as a thin lens on brackish and saline water.⁵ At Al ZubarahAl Zubarah A walled coastal town on the Gulf, founded by merchants from Kuwait, that flourished as a pearling and trading centre before it was destroyed in 1811 and abandoned in the early 1900s. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Source: Al Zubarah Archaeological Site, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, a pearling and trading town of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the settlement of Qal’at Murair was fortified to protect the town’s inland wells. Screening walls later provided a safe route for carrying water down to the coast.^6 7 Until 1953, the population relied entirely on groundwater for drinking and farming.⁸ That year, Qatar’s first desalination plant was built, with a capacity of 150,000 imperial gallons a day; in those early years, desalinated water was carted to consumers by tanker.⁹ The aquifer stayed in use: from 1972 to 2005, it was depleted by an average of 69 million m³ a year.²

Today, the aquifer serves mainly the farms, while the sea supplies the cities. Groundwater abstraction runs near 250 million m³ a year, against a safe yield of about 54.2 million m³, and treated sewage effluent now provides about 65% of the aquifer’s replenishment.¹ Desalinated water production by KahramaaKahramaa Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation, established in July 2000. It is the sole owner and operator of Qatar's electricity and water transmission and distribution networks. Source: Corporate Statement, Kahramaa reached about 671 million m³ in 2022.¹⁰ How long storage could meet the country’s needs is disputed. In March 2026, the interior minister said the strategic water reserve covered about four months of consumption; independent estimates put it at 7 to 10 days.^11 12 13

One interactive map of Qatar's water, built from real geodata. Climate & drought maps the aridity gradient (WorldClim) with warming projections. The Water risk layer's WRI Aqueduct indicators, covering overall water risk, water stress and flood risk (plus groundwater decline where the trend is significant), shade each sub-basin by its 0–5 risk score. Demand shows where the population, and the water demand, concentrate. Infrastructure shows treatment plants and desalination plants; Qatar has no rivers or dams. Shared waters outlines the aquifers that Qatar shares with other countries, each drawn in full across the border; hover an outline for the countries that share it. Hover any sub-basin or marker for detail; sources are cited under each view.

Qatar is a low limestone peninsula. It covers about 11,637 km², including the islands of Halul, Shira’wa and Alashat, with 550 km of coastline.¹ The land runs just under 190 km north to south and just under 90 km east to west.¹ Apart from hills in the north-west and dunes in the south-east, the terrain is flat desert with limestone outcrops at Dukhan and Jabal Fuwairit.¹ Elevations range from 0 to 107 m, and about 23% of the land lies low.¹ Limestone and dolomite make up about 80% of the surface, with gypsum layers in the south.¹ About 850 depressions hold the country’s farm soils, and saline sabkha lines the coasts at Umm Said and Dukhan.²

Rainfall

Rain is scarce and erratic. The annual average was about 68.8 mm between 2011 and 2022, against about 80 mm in FAO’s older series.^1 2 Rain falls mainly between October and May, with occasional thunderstorms from December to February.¹ Totals at Doha airport ranged from 11.0 mm in 2021 to 119.9 mm in 2018, and the 2021 figure was 19% of the long-term average.¹ Wet spells can be intense. In under three weeks in late 2018, 136 mm fell, against a Doha annual average of about 75 mm.¹⁹ Evaporation averages about 2,200 mm a year.²

In the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal’s ERA5 reanalysis, averaged over the whole of Qatar, about 66 mm of rain falls in a year (1991–2020). Station records and national averages use other sources and baselines, so their figures can differ (the text cites about 68.8 mm a year over 2011–2022 from the national communication and FAO’s older 80 mm). About 60% of the rain falls in December, January and March, and 7 months average less than 5 mm. Average rainfall in 1993–2022 was about 4% higher than in 1951–1980, and single years swing widely around that.

Heat and the sea

The climate is hyper-arid, with a hot summer from June to mid-September and a mild winter from December to February.¹ Between 2018 and 2022, summer lows ran 31.4–33.3 °C and highs 39.2–42.6 °C.¹ Summer temperatures can reach 50 °C.²⁰ At Al Udeid, 32 heatwaves were recorded between 2003 and 2024, with frequency rising by about 0.1 events a year.²¹ The Gulf is warming faster than the global ocean. Around Qatar, summer sea-surface temperature rose by about 0.06 °C a year over 2003–2024.¹ Sea level rose by 3.5–4.5 mm a year in 1993–2022, about 20% above the global rate.¹

The same reanalysis gives a mean temperature of 27.4 °C for 1991–2020 and a warming of about 0.44 °C a decade over 1971–2022. Station records and national reports use other sources and periods, so their warming rates can differ.

Projections

Downscaled models project an annual mean temperature of 29.7 °C by 2050 under a middle scenario and 30.1 °C under high emissions, against 27.9 °C in 1984–2014.¹ The largest increases fall on the western and northern coasts.¹ Rainfall projections diverge. The same ensemble gives 98.7 mm by 2050 in the middle scenario, while its lower bounds fall to 69.5 mm and 57.4 mm.¹ In the World Bank’s CMIP6 ensemble, days above 35 °C rise from about 162 a year in 1995–2014 to about 220 by 2080–2099 under high emissions.²² A one-metre rise in sea level would flood about 173 km², mostly around Mesaieed and the south-east.¹

Projected change for Qatar

The table gives the CMIP6 multi-model median from the same World Bank portal, as change against 1995–2014. Projections cited in the text may use other models, scenarios or baselines, so their figures can differ.

Qatar has no rivers, and recharge depends on runoff into the depressions.² Runoff is 16–20% of rainfall, and 70% of what reaches a depression soaks in.² The second national communication (2025) puts renewable groundwater at about 58.1 million m³ a year, including 2.2 million m³ flowing in from Saudi Arabia.¹ The safe yield is about 54.2 million m³, but abstraction runs near 250 million m³ a year.¹ Deficits ranged from 57 to 184 million m³ between 2016 and 2021.¹ Fresh water sits as lenses in the Rus and Umm er Radhuma aquifers, mostly in the north.¹ Recharge is now largely artificial, with about 65% of replenishment coming from treated sewage effluent.¹

FAO’s figures give the history. In 2005 extraction was 221 million m³ against recharge of about 25 million m³, an older estimate; allowing for irrigation return flow and outflow, FAO put the volume mined at 159 million m³.² Depletion averaged 69 million m³ a year from 1972 to 2005.² A 2021 study, citing earlier work, gave the current deficit as 98 million m³.⁴ The Dammam aquifer is now mostly dewatered in Qatar and Bahrain.²³ Satellite gravity data show groundwater thinning by 0.24 cm a year from 2002 to 2020.⁴

Desalination is the supply. Kahramaa’s desalinated water production reached about 671 million m³ in 2022.¹⁰ CSIS put desalination at 77.3% of total water demand in March 2026, a different measure from the production shares charted below.²⁴ Treated effluent irrigates green spaces and fodder and recharges aquifers (see Infrastructure).³ The aquifer persists as agriculture’s overdraft.

Supply by source

Farms and the aquifer

Withdrawals grew from 292 million m³ in 1994, 74% of it for agriculture, to 444 million m³ in 2005, counting groundwater, treated sewage and desalinated water, when farms took 59%.² Agriculture drew 98% of groundwater in 1993.²³ By 2019 agriculture used about 310 million m³, including about 250 million m³ of groundwater.⁴ The groundwater balance is set out under Water resources. AQUASTAT’s freshwater withdrawal series charted below leaves out desalinated water, so it is lower than the total withdrawal used for the split by sector.¹⁶ Irrigation efficiency is about 45%.²

Demand and prices

Qatari citizens’ homes are exempt from water and electricity bills under Kahramaa’s exemption rules.²⁶ From September 2015 Kahramaa replaced a flat QR 4.40 per cubic metre with slabs rising to QR 7.40 for 100 to 150 cubic metres.²⁷ A 2020 study put consumption at around 557 litres a person a day.²⁸ Since the January 2021 bill, non-Qatari homes and establishments of any kind also pay a wastewater fee of 20% of the water bill.²⁶ Kahramaa runs the Tarsheed water-saving programme.²⁹

Use by sector

Withdrawals over time

FAO’s AQUASTAT estimates put Qatar’s freshwater withdrawals at 150 million m³ in 1975 and 250 million m³ in its latest estimate (2017). Agriculture’s share of the total moved from 74% in 1994 to 33% in 2022.

Farming relies on groundwater and treated sewage effluent. The planning council puts groundwater abstraction for farming at about 180 million m³ in 2023, 90% of all fresh groundwater abstracted, and treated effluent at 70.7 million m³, or 27.8% of the water used in agriculture.²⁵ The table shows the series from 2018.

Land and methods

Cultivated land was 13,430 ha in 2021, about a fifth of a cultivable area of around 65,000 ha; in 2022, green fodder took 51% of it, vegetables 23%, date palms 22%, fruit trees 3% and cereals 1%.¹ In October 2023 the Ministry of Municipality said modern networks covered 89% of open-field farm area and that traditional methods waste 50 to 60% of water; a drip programme was to supply networks to 400 farms between 2022 and 2024.³²

Targets and rules

The Third National Development Strategy, 2024–2030, sets a goal of cutting groundwater extraction by 70% and water per tonne of crop by 40%, with metering, protection zones and enforcement of the Water Act to limit groundwater use on fodder.³³ The Ministry of Municipality’s Food Security Department gave the same two goals for the national food security strategy in August 2025.³⁴ A ministry speaker said in 2023 that the strategic direction is to stop producing green fodder with groundwater and move to treated water, which then supplied about 39% of green fodder;³⁵ the stated aim is 100% of fodder irrigation with treated effluent by 2030.³⁶ Kahramaa manages groundwater and issues drilling licences.³⁷ Law No. 23 of 2025 on water is described under Water use.

Treated wastewater

Agriculture took 24.2% of the 282 million m³ of wastewater treated in 2023; green spaces took 43.0% and aquifer injection 15.6%.²⁵ The council notes that salinity of about 1,000 mg/L at the Doha plants is a major concern for reuse in agriculture.²⁵ The register lists the D-Line TSE pumping station and transmission main, which supplies treated effluent to farms; more are on the Agriculture & Food hub.

Kahramaa procures plants as independent water and power projects. Qatar built its first desalination plant in 1953, with a capacity of 150,000 imperial gallons a day.⁹ The Ras Abu Fontas plants followed from 1977, and since June 2008 Kahramaa has pumped water around the clock.⁹ Desalinated output rose from 0.44 million m³ a day in 2003 to 1.48 million in 2011 and 2.18 million in 2018.²⁹ Thermal co-generation still carries much of the fleet.¹ Facility E, about 25 km south of Doha, will add 2.4 GW of power, around 20% of grid capacity, and 495,000 tonnes a day of desalinated water. Operations are expected in 2028.³⁸

Tracked projects

Open the project database for Qatar

Storage and the 2026 war

Storage is the backbone of Qatar’s water security. Strategic reserve capacity reached 10.6 million m³ in 2021.¹ Kahramaa’s mega-reservoirs project, commissioned in December 2018, comprised 15 of the world’s largest concrete drinking-water reservoirs at five sites, each holding about 100 million imperial gallons, and covered storage needs to 2026.^39 20 1 The reservoirs hold Guinness records, and storage reached 2,417 million gallons after their commissioning.¹⁴ A second phase envisaged five additional reservoirs for projected demand by 2036.¹ MEED puts the project at about US$3.2 billion.⁴⁰ A 2021 study estimated that up to 182.8 million m³ could be recharged into depleted aquifers, about three months of supply.²⁹

In March 2026 Al Jazeera reported Iranian drone and missile strikes on gas facilities at Ras Laffan, while noting that Iranian officials had publicly denied targeting QatarEnergy.⁴¹ That month the interior minister said the strategic water reserve covered about four months of consumption.¹¹ Independent estimates were far lower: 7 to 10 days of municipal needs, or under a week.^12 13

Wastewater and drainage

Ashghal runs eight wastewater treatment plants, 13 effluent pumping stations and 120 foul sewer pumping stations.³ Its networks include 3,326 km of sewers and 2,084 km of treated-water distribution mains.³ The drainage network grew from 2,836 km in 2013 to 9,707 km in 2025.³ Sewer coverage reached 68% of buildings nationally in 2005, and 95% in Doha.²

Almost all wastewater is treated: the national communication puts the treated share at 99.7%.¹ Reuse has grown fast. In 2005, 43 million m³ of treated wastewater was reused.² By 2026 Ashghal reported that 98% of wastewater was treated and reused. Of the cumulative 3.46 billion m³, 32% went to green spaces, 31% to fodder, 22% was injected into aquifers and 14% was stored in seasonal lagoons.³ Ashghal’s figure therefore includes injection and storage; on the National Planning Council’s figures, about 70% of treated wastewater was reused for farming and landscaping in 2023 and a further 16% or so was injected into aquifers.²⁵

Networks

National Planning Council statistics put total water losses at 19% in 2023, including real losses of 6%.²⁵ Leakage in the distribution system was cut to 4% by 2016.¹ Losses of desalinated water then rose from 4% in 2016 to 6% in 2021.¹

In northern and central Qatar, the Rus and Umm er Radhuma aquifers hold water at 500–3,000 mg/L, rising to 10,000 mg/L near the coast.² The Rus is at risk of salinisation or total depletion, and ESCWA warns that the part of the Umm er Radhuma–Dammam system in Qatar is threatened by complete salinisation in the near future.²³

Supply depends on clean seawater. Red tide, algal blooms and oil spills could stop Gulf desalination plants for days, possibly months.²⁹ Kahramaa sampled water at about 11,500 points in 2022, and its laboratory is accredited to ISO 17025.^10 42

The reported indicators

On the latest values each country reports for SDG indicator 6.3.1, Qatar’s 100% (2024) ranks joint 1st of the 17 countries covered here that report it; years differ by country. The regional comparison is in the wastewater and reuse dashboard.

Qatar shares no rivers. Its groundwater lies in the central Umm er Radhuma–Dammam system, shared with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain (and, in IGRAC’s mapping, the UAE), and no water agreement governs it.^23 43 About 11,300 km² of the system lies in Qatar.²³ Inflow from Saudi Arabia is part of the renewable groundwater given under Water resources. In late June 2026 GCC delegations met to review the framework of a planned feasibility study on Gulf water interconnection.⁴⁴

The record

Shared aquifers

• Umm er Radhuma-Dammam Aquifer System (Centre): GulfBahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE · data good

Water and electricity were brought under one ministry in 1997.⁹ Kahramaa, the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation, was established in July 2000 under Emiri Law No. 10.⁹ It owns and operates the transmission and distribution systems.¹ Ashghal, the Public Works Authority, runs sewage, drainage and treated-effluent infrastructure.³

Strategy and law

The current national development strategy calls for groundwater metering, protection zones and enforcement of the Water Act, including limits on groundwater for fodder.¹ It targets a 15% cut in drinking-water losses and in consumption per person.¹ An earlier strategy aimed to reuse 70% of treated wastewater by 2022.¹ Law No. 23 of 2025 on water, launched in October 2025,⁴⁵ regulates groundwater use and the criteria for digging wells; in June 2026 the compliance period was extended by six months.⁴⁶ Law No. 13 of 2024 protects public electricity and water facilities. Under it, Decision No. 10 of 2026 bans mechanical equipment within 1.5 m of network boundaries without authorisation.⁴⁷

Qatar’s system is manufactured, efficient and exposed. Desalination supplies most of the water, the aquifer runs at a deficit, and the Gulf it draws from is warming faster than the global ocean.¹ Heat is rising, with more days above 35 °C projected under high emissions (see Geography & climate). Unmet water demand by 2050 could reach about 1,900 million m³ under high population growth with climate-driven demand.¹

The answer so far is storage, reuse, efficiency and new capacity such as Facility E (see Infrastructure). The open questions are demand-side pricing for nationals, and how a hotter Gulf changes intakes, brine and the energy bill of staying cool.