Water Resource Plan, Qatar

The problem

Water consumption in Qatar is high despite it being one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. Desalination provides 60 percent of Qatar’s water, but its high cost and low tariffs create a fiscal drain that becomes less sustainable as hydrocarbon receipts fall. The country’s only natural aquifer has been over-abstracted to provide water for agriculture to promote food security. The aquifer will be exhausted in the next decade or two at current abstraction rates.