IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i10p4189-d1396140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Issues of Water Resources in Saudi Arabia: Past, Present, and Future

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammad Suhail

    (Centre of Applied Remote Sensing and GIS Applications, Samarkand State University named after Sharof Rashidov, Samarkand 140100, Uzbekistan)

  • Turki Kh. Faraj

    (Department of Soil Sciences, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 145111, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia)

  • Waseem Ahmad

    (Symbiosis Law School, Noida Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune 201301, India)

  • Alikul Xudayberdiyevich Ravshanov

    (Faculty of Geography and Ecology, Samarkand State University named after Sharof Rashidov, Samarkand 140100, Uzbekistan)

  • Mohd Nazish Khan

    (Department of Geography, Samarkand State University named after Sharof Rashidov, Samarkand 140100, Uzbekistan)

Abstract

The present paper addresses a comprehensive historical assessment of water consumption, demand, and supply in Saudi Arabia, along with future projections regarding water balance, in terms of demand and supply by source in various sectors. Being an arid region, Saudi Arabia experiences scorching heat, low precipitation, a high rate of potential evaporation, and the absence of permanent water bodies over the territory. Groundwater contributes almost 61% of total available water, while the recharge rate is negligible. However, few widyan (ephemeral streams) systems exists to satisfy water demand, which could contribute to approximately one year of domestic water consumption if managed efficiently. The study also predicts water consumption scenarios for the next three consecutive development plans, i.e., the 10th plan (2015–2019), 11th plan (2020–2024), and 12th plan (2025–2029). The analysis shows that water consumption may decline significantly in the future, if the present rate of decline continues. Scenario I, if the current rate is assumed, provides a decrease in consumption of 14.36, 12.66, and 11.15 BCM for 10th, 11th, and 12th plans, respectively. Moreover, the domestic and industrial sectors will consume more water in the future. In the same way, scenarios II and III represent a decline in total water consumption, along with that of agriculture, while domestic and industrial water usage would increase, thus improving environmental sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Suhail & Turki Kh. Faraj & Waseem Ahmad & Alikul Xudayberdiyevich Ravshanov & Mohd Nazish Khan, 2024. "Issues of Water Resources in Saudi Arabia: Past, Present, and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:10:p:4189-:d:1396140
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/10/4189/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/10/4189/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mustafa El-Rawy & Heba Fathi & Wouter Zijl & Fahad Alshehri & Sattam Almadani & Faisal K. Zaidi & Mofleh Aldawsri & Mohamed Elsayed Gabr, 2023. "Potential Effects of Climate Change on Agricultural Water Resources in Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Bader Alhafi Alotaibi & Mirza Barjees Baig & Mohamed M. M. Najim & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah & Yosef A. Alamri, 2023. "Water Scarcity Management to Ensure Food Scarcity through Sustainable Water Resources Management in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hesham M. Ibrahim & Abdulaziz G. Alghamdi & Anwar A. Aly, 2024. "Assessing Drought Patterns in Al-Baha: Implications for Water Resources and Climate Adaptation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-26, November.
    2. Fahad Alzahrani & Momtaz Elsebaei & Rady Tawfik, 2023. "Public Acceptance of Treated Wastewater Reuse in the Agricultural Sector in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-14, October.
    3. Abdullah Alodah, 2023. "Towards Sustainable Water Resources Management Considering Climate Change in the Case of Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-29, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:10:p:4189-:d:1396140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.