Saudi Arabia’s water sector limbers up for the 2034 FIFA World Cup

18 December 2025

How one of the world’s driest countries is using football as a catalyst for future proofing, from desalination to wastewater reuse

It's been a year since Saudi Arabia was officially awarded the hosting rights for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, marking a historic milestone for the Kingdom and the region. As the first country to host a 48-team tournament in a single nation, Saudi Arabia will stage matches across 15 stadiums in five cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha and Neom (a metropolis still in construction). The event is expected to attract up to 7.5 million visitors and drive large-scale investments in hotels, airports and urban infrastructure. It’s intended as a catalyst for diversifying the economy, boosting global visibility and reshaping urban life.

But as Saudi Arabia prepares to host the contest, the kingdom faces a parallel challenge: water scarcity. Expanding cities, tourism and infrastructure demand will place new pressures on a resource already stretched thin in one of the world’s driest nations.

With a population exceeding 35 million, Saudi Arabia faces acute water scarcity due to its arid climate and the absence of permanent rivers or lakes, making it one of the driest countries globally. It receives only about 59 mm of rainfall per year (for comparison, the UK receives an average of 1,220 mm), so historically, communities here relied on deep groundwater wells and a resilient pastoral lifestyle, often vulnerable to droughts and famine. The discovery of oil in 1938 transformed the country, enabling rapid development and prompting the government to prioritise water availability, agriculture and infrastructure. But scarcity remains the defining challenge.

Older generations will tell you stories of a harsh past when survival was uncertain and access to water was a daily, often desperate, challenge. Life expectancy stayed stubbornly between 35 and 45 years, as countless children succumbed to preventable diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation. These heartbreaking losses were tragically common. Before oil wealth transformed the kingdom, water scarcity shaped every aspect of life. Today, in one of the world’s driest and most water-stressed regions, ensuring reliable access to clean water is far more than a development target, it is a vital public health lifeline that underpins the nation’s future.

Future planning

Since then, Saudi Arabia’s water demand has been rising rapidly, driven by population growth, urbanisation and agricultural expansion. Projections by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) indicate that by 2050, demand will increase significantly, placing even greater pressure on the kingdom’s already scarce water resources. To address this challenge, Saudi Arabia relies heavily on desalination, which currently supplies around 50 to 60% of its potable water. In addition to desalination, the government is investing in treated wastewater reuse, water conservation technologies and infrastructure upgrades to enhance the resilience and sustainability of the national water system. Balancing this growing demand with long-term resource management remains a critical priority.

In 2018, the government launched Vision 2030, an ambitious plan aimed at economic diversification and sustainable resource management, including a comprehensive National Water Strategy. The first of its kind for the kingdom, it’s a holistic framework to align water resource management with long-term sustainability, economic diversification and environmental goals.

For the water sector, this means both opportunity and responsibility. The decisions made today, on infrastructure, sustainability and service delivery, will shape the quality of life for generations to come. The World Cup offers a rare chance to build systems that endure well beyond the final whistle.

Agriculture remains the largest consumer of water in Saudi Arabia, accounting for 60 to 85% of total usage. This places immense pressure on already limited water resources, especially as climate change intensifies droughts, disrupts rainfall patterns and accelerates the depletion of aquifers, our natural underground reserves of groundwater.

To address these issues, Saudi Arabia is undertaking a strategic transformation in water management, aligned with Vision 2030. Over 3,300 water projects worth $80 billion (£56bn) are underway, including expansions of desalination capacity and transmission networks. Innovative solutions are being deployed, such as the AlKhafji solar-powered desalination plant, which produces 60,000 cubic metres of potable water per day while cutting carbon emissions. The government is also investing in treated wastewater reuse, smart irrigation and water demand management. The National Water Strategy 2030 outlines 47 initiatives across 10 programmes. The kingdom’s water strategy reflects a shift from reactive resource use to proactive, integrated planning, combining infrastructure, technology and regulation to build resilience in the face of environmental stress.

Desalination

As of 2025, Saudi Arabia meets over 60% of its water needs through desalination, with plans to increase further potentially up to 90% The country operates approximately 30 desalination plants, including major facilities such as Ras Al Khair and Shuaiba 3, which are among the largest in the world. Desalination is essential for Saudi Arabia’s water supply, but it comes with high costs and environmental concerns: it’s one of the most energy-intensive methods of water production and generates brine that can harm marine ecosystems.

To reduce these impacts, the kingdom has adopted more efficient technologies like reverse osmosis and hybrid systems, as well as integrating renewable energy into desalination. Future projects, including at Neom, plan to combine wind, solar and green hydrogen. These innovations aim to cut both costs and carbon emissions, making water production more sustainable.

To further enhance sustainability, Saudi Arabia is implementing energy recovery systems and exploring zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technologies to minimise brine waste. Additionally, emerging innovations such as graphene-based membranes – which require less pressure to push water through – hold promise for significantly improving the energy efficiency of desalination.

Expanding water access

Water access in Saudi Arabia varies sharply by region. Coastal cities benefit from large desalination facilities, while inland regions such as Riyadh or Aseer often depend on tankers or vast pipelines stretching across harsh desert terrain. Bridging this gap requires resilient, tailored solutions. Ayesa, the global engineering and technology firm where I work as senior project manager on infrastructure, is actively supporting this national priority through its work with the National Water Company (NWC) and the Saudi Water Authority (SWA) (formerly the Saline Water Conversion Corporation, SWCC). The latter is one of the largest producers of desalinated water in the world. We’ve contributed technical design, supervision and consultancy services to key infrastructure projects that connect previously unserved areas to the municipal water network. As well as building and maintaining vast pipeline networks, high-capacity pumping stations, reservoirs and energy infrastructure will also be required.

Riyadh, situated at an elevation of 612m above sea level, faces additional logistical and energy challenges in water delivery. The city’s population has grown from approximately 3.6 million 25 years ago, to 7.9 million today. It is expected to rise to more than 9.6 million by 2030, further intensifying pressure on Riyadh’s water infrastructure. Encouraging growth in other inland regions, especially those at lower elevations and easier access to water infrastructure, could help distribute demand more evenly and enhance national water resilience while easing the burden on Riyadh.

The economics of water

Saudi Arabia heavily subsidises water production and distribution, keeping tariffs well below actual costs. As a result, per capita water use is nearly double the global average, shaped by both affordability and cultural practices. While subsidies ease household burdens, they place a growing financial strain on the state as energy costs and desalination expenses rise. Reforms under the National Water Strategy 2030 aim to address this imbalance through smart metering, tiered pricing and public awareness campaigns. Gradual tariff adjustments and partial privatisation are underway to balance affordability with financial sustainability, an essential step if the kingdom is to secure its long-term water future.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are playing a growing role in delivering large and complex water infrastructure projects. PPPs help the government by shifting many construction and operational risks to private companies, which often have more experience managing these challenges. Projects such as Shuqaiq 3, developed under a BOO (build-own-operate) model with a capacity of 450,000 cubic metres/day in the Jazan region, represent key milestones in Saudi Arabia’s efforts to expand sustainable water supply.

A key benefit of PPPs is that once the private company’s contract ends, the facility is handed back to the government, usually with fewer risks and a well-maintained asset. This makes it easier for Saudi Arabia to expand or upgrade its water infrastructure over time. To support this, the National Center for Privatization & PPP ensures that projects are transparent, competitive and protect public interests such as service quality and fair pricing. PPPs are a cornerstone of Vision 2030, helping the kingdom attract private investment while keeping strong government oversight.

The kingdom has seen a huge transition over the past century, from a past of scarcity and hardship to today’s advanced but energy-intensive systems. Yet, the core challenges remain: heavy dependence on desalination, disproportionate agricultural use, uneven regional access and the looming threat of climate change. Hosting the World Cup will bring global scrutiny, with critics watching closely for signs of greenwashing or overreach. But it also offers a rare opportunity. If managed wisely, the momentum of Vision 2030 and the World Cup could accelerate a shift toward a more sustainable, efficient and resilient water sector. I remain optimistic that the systems we are building today will secure a more sustainable and resilient water future for generations to come.

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Roble Ali is a senior project manager for infrastructure at Ayesa