Synergetic Water Demand and Sustainable Supply Strategies in GCC Countries: Data-driven Recommendations

Abstract

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, characterized with limited water resources and high oil/gas revenues, rely heavily on energy-intensive seawater desalination and non-renewable groundwater abstraction. The need to shift solutions to demand-side practices and sustainable supply alternatives has been long advocated; yet this study is the first to “quantify” the impacts of such solutions on the water management system of Qatar – considered a study case of GCC countries. In this research, a scenario-based approach was utilized to predict the impact of water demand control and wastewater reuse (and the resulting synergies) on consumption of desalinated water, extraction of groundwater resources, and development needs of water and wastewater infrastructure. To this effect, country-specific models for Qatar were developed to project annual household water demand, wastewater generation and residential construction growth, up to year 2050. The outcomes showed that tariff reforms and regulated greywater reuse would reduce the annual household demand for desalinated water by up to 27% and 7%, respectively. Also, intensive reuse of Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) would reduce 40–80% of total groundwater abstraction for irrigation by 2050. Finally, adopting an integrated water strategy, with combined demand and supply management targets, creates synergies that would: (1) limit groundwater abstraction to rates close to the aquifers safe yield; and (2) delay the need for expansion of the water and wastewater infrastructure by more than a decade. Data-driven recommendations were provided accordingly.