Water demand in Qatar: Future trends and conservation scenarios

Abstract

We model water consumption in the market segment that compose the Qatari water market. We link water consumption to population growth. Building on the estimated model, we develop long-range forecasts of water consumption from 2018 to 2030 over different scenarios for the population driver. In addition, we proxy for water efficiency improvements by reducing the long - run elasticity of water consumption to population. We show that the efficient use of water has a crucial role in controlling the future evolution of water consumption. Water conservation policies should consider this aspect and we call for the implementation of water efficiency improvement program