Saudi Arabia Water Resources eBook

Saudi Arabia has a very high-water footprint in the world. The Water footprint explorer allows comparisons with other countries.

Water demand has been on an increasing trend from 2010to 2018 as you can see from the adjoining images where the major water withdrawal by volume is agriculture, municipal and industry respectively. Demand is also seasonal where there is a 20-30% increase from winter to summer.

Water demand has been mostly met with groundwater for agricultural need, while desalination, and surface is being used for municipal and industrial water.

Agriculture

Since Saudi Arabia is in one of the most arid regions of the world, managing agriculture demand is a critical part of managing water resources. Irrigation is required almost everywhere to ensure crop production since high evapotranspiration and low precipitation rate will have a high adverse impact on crop productivity. Location of irrigation areas and rainfed areas can be explored in the WRI Aqueduct food.

Saudi Arabia started was using groundwater to grow water intensive crops such as wheat and fodder such as alfalfa for cattle. Total wheat and agriculture production peaked in the 1990s, before there was a dramatic decline in crop area and the switch to less intensive water crop such as dates or fruits and vegetables that can be grown in greenhouses as shown in the adjacent interactive chart. However, as the overall production of wheat has declined, certain areas have seen an increase in wheat production as seen in the video. The overall impact of agriculture production on water resources has been significant, since it has been estimated that 2/3 of the fossil aquifer has been depleted since the 1980s since there is a high demand for water for each type of crop as shown in the adjacent table.

Irrigation Water Requirements for Different Crops:

Source: Chowdhury, S., & Al-Zahrani, M. (2015)

Fodder production, especially alfalfa is the most intensive water crop and the harvested areas has not changed over time as shown from the adjacent graph.

It has been estimated that 89 percent of the annual water demand with 57 percent of nonrenewable groundwater is used for agriculture from a UNDP estimate. To reduce the internal demand for water, a ban was placed in November 2018 on fodder production. It has been estimated that fodder production will be reduced by 65 percent. To compensate for the loss of water and the reduction of water intensive crops while still maintaining a livestock industry further, private entities has been buying land overseas in Sudan, Ethiopia, USA to growing water intensive crops or fodder and importing the product back to Saudi Arabia.

Water a central tenant to economic and social development, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recognizes the water scarcity challenges facing the country due to the exploitation of groundwater, domestic water per capita is one the highest in the world and the high cost for desalination is unsustainable. The 2020 Vision Strategy objective for water is to enhance demand management and safeguard and optimize the use of water resources. They have developed ten strategic programs and initiatives, where the three main programs related to agriculture are regulation, integrated water resource management, and restructuring the Saudi Irrigation Organization.

Municipal

Municipal water consumption (residential and commercial) is one of the highest in the world at 276 lpcd in 2018 and has been increasing from the interactive image. Consumption is heterogeneous within the country, where average water consumption in urban areas ranges from 100-350 lpcd, while rural areas water consumption per capita ranges from 15-20 lpcd. Within Riyadh, consumption has been measured at 560 lpcd.

Industrial

Industries in Saudi Arabia have an increasing trend of using water, which has been approximately four percent of total water demand due to reclaiming and recycling of water. SABIC, a chemical manufacturing company, requires a large amount of water to produce chemicals. To reduce the demand for fresh water, they have incorporated a recycling process, where water is used numerous times. Aramco, the world's biggest company, requires 2.9-6.1 gallons of water for every gallon of oil produced. Water is required for production and processing, where 85 percent of the water is injected to maintain oil pressure. To promote water conservation, the company plans to use 70 percent less water by 2022. Aramco sanitary wastewater has residual values since 70 percent of the wastewater provides 49 percent of the irrigation requirements for landscaping.