Water and Qatar

Using data collected over a 15 year period from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) scientists have increased their knowledge of how water moves and is stored on Earth. In the coming years the GRACE follow up mission satellites that were launched in 2018 will increase that understanding of water resources and how the global climate is changing rainfall and water storage and man’s actions are impacting water availability and sustainability.

Qatar is mostly an example of man’s impact. Qatar is an arid country with no perennial rivers or lakes and is one of the most water stressed country on earth. It receives an average annual rainfall of less than 3 ¼ inches per year, in adequate to supply even 5% of its population. Historically there was barely enough water for survival of the small population. What little water was available came from wells in the desert. Yet, the nation now uses 157 gallons a day of water per person. How does a nation with virtually no water resources end up using water as if they have an unlimited supply? The wealth to desalinate water, and subsidize its price. Oil and gas resources were discovered around 1940 that changed the population growth and trajectory of the nation.

In 1968, Britain announced its plans of withdrawing its military east of the Suez canal. When Qatar, Dubai, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi failed to form a federation, Qatar declared its independence in September 1971 and became an independent state. When Qatar gained independence, its population was under 120,000. Even then the renewable water resources (groundwater recharged from rain) were inadequate to support the population.

Qatar used the vast natural gas and oil wealth to bring water to their dessert. Qatar has relied upon desalination to meet the increasing domestic water demand since 1953. Today, the population of Qatar is 2.8 million and the nation relies primarily on the older thermal desalination method which uses much more energy than reverse osmosis. The average annual rainfall recharge to groundwater is around 53 million cubic meters. The current capacity of desalination plants in Qatar is around 474 million cubic meters per year. Around 30% of the expensive desalinated water is reportedly to leakage in the water distribution system, and the rest is used for domestic purposes. Agriculture depends on groundwater. Qatar abstracts about 220 million cubic meters of groundwater per year. As a result, groundwater level drops about a meter a year even with the nation using waste water to recharge the groundwater. The groundwater aquifer is shared with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Desalination provides almost all domestic water. The demand for water increases continuously as a result of the influx of migrants into the country and the government subsidizing the cost of power and water. Desalination, especially the older thermal method consumes massive amounts of energy. Groundwater continues to be used for agricultural irrigation. In 2017, a number of countries led by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt (collectively referred to as the 'Quartet') severed their ties with Qatar and imposed a blockade due to their funding and active support of Syrian fractions.

The blockade limited food importation. Qatar began a program to increase their food production which required increasing water production and storage. Until that time, Qatar had about 3 days of water storage for the nation- highly vulnerable to water attack. The state utility, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation called Kahramaa is engaged in a project to ensure 7 days of reserve water supply, but the water situation is not sustainable and nearing crisis. With the money from oil and gas Qatar may be able to sidestep disaster. Qatar is moving forward with building new desalination plants using the lasts technology and is testing treating the water produced from oil and gas production for use. Produced water tends to have high salinity and also contains radioactive trace contaminants as well as other contaminants.

The challenges of water security in Qatar is easily visible, but it is becoming more common in other water stressed parts of the world where changes in rainfall can have catastrophic impact on nations or even states.