High water consumption in Qatar

Qatar’s annual per capita consumption of water is more than 12 times the amount of renewable water available but its usage is substantially lower than that in Kuwait and the UAE, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Besides, the usage of desalinated seawater in Qatar constitutes 75% of the total water consumption, which is higher than that in Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and Kuwait, PwC said in a report ‘Achieving a sustainable water sector in the GCC: Managing supply and demand, building institutions’.

The report detailed that per capita water consumption in Qatar was estimated at 377 cu m per annum whereas renewable resources was only 31 cu m, translating as 12 times more consumption.

Overall, the per capita consumption of water per annum in the Gulf countries is 65% more than the world average, thus calling for rationalisation of subsidies and a pragmatic fixation of tariffs.

To move toward greater sustainability in their water sectors, the Gulf countries will have to address excessive water demand, inadequate water supplies, and ineffective institutional frameworks.

On the demand-side management, PwC suggested that water and wastewater tariffs should be set at levels that allow utilities to recover the largest possible portion of their costs, while still providing customers with affordable water.

Tariffs should not be raised randomly. Instead, any increase should come as part of a regulatory impact assessment study, so that the effect on consumers’ needs and wallets is understood

Highlighting the high cost of seawater desalination, PwC said in no other part of the world is seawater desalination technology used more heavily than in the GCC — and no other part of the world benefits as much from desalinated water.

However, this “technological feat has come with significant environmental costs”. According to the PwC report, desalination plants create carbon emissions by burning fuel, and they discharge the salt left over from the process back into the sea.

Finding that from an economic perspective, current water-sector practices are not sustainable; it said studies indicate that seawater desalination consumes around eight times more energy than groundwater and reclaimed wastewater projects and three times more energy than brackish water desalination projects. 

Observing that “no attempt is made to recover the costs of producing water”, it said the net result is that those consuming water typically pay no more than a fraction of the cost of producing and distributing the water in most GCC countries.

Gulf Times