01
Key Developments
Free
Turkey: National Water Plan 2026–2035 Enters Force
What's New? Turkey's National Water Plan (2026–2035) was approved by presidential decree and published in the Official Gazette on 14 March. The plan sets out 8 goals, 31 strategies, and 141 actions covering flood-water capture, irrigation modernization, groundwater monitoring, and wastewater treatment expansion.
Why It Matters: Agriculture consumes roughly 79 percent of Turkey's water, and the country is already classified as water-stressed. The plan establishes a legally binding framework for reducing network losses to 25 percent by 2030 and per-capita consumption to 120 liters per day, with implications for downstream Euphrates–Tigris flows.
What's Next? Authorities will expand satellite-based tracking of agricultural water use, develop a national flood forecast and early warning system by 2030, and deploy floating solar plants on reservoirs to curb evaporation.
Why It Matters: Agriculture consumes roughly 79 percent of Turkey's water, and the country is already classified as water-stressed. The plan establishes a legally binding framework for reducing network losses to 25 percent by 2030 and per-capita consumption to 120 liters per day, with implications for downstream Euphrates–Tigris flows.
What's Next? Authorities will expand satellite-based tracking of agricultural water use, develop a national flood forecast and early warning system by 2030, and deploy floating solar plants on reservoirs to curb evaporation.
Oman: Nama PWP Announces Two New Independent Water Projects
What's New? Nama Power and Water Procurement Company unveiled plans for the North Batinah IWP (150,000 m³/day, operational by 2032) and the Dhofar Water IWP 2030 (80,000 m³/day, operational around 2030) in its latest 7-Year Outlook Statement, signaling a major capacity expansion.
Why It Matters: Peak water demand in Oman's Main Interconnected System is projected to grow 3 percent annually, reaching approximately 1,483,000 m³/day by 2032. The new projects will supplement the 300,000 m³/day Ghubrah III IWP already under construction and due online in 2027.
What's Next? Procurement begins once the Pre-Investment Appraisal Documents receive regulatory approval. Nama PWP is coordinating site selection with Nama Water Services for North Batinah and conducting a hydrological study for the Dhofar project at Raysut.
Why It Matters: Peak water demand in Oman's Main Interconnected System is projected to grow 3 percent annually, reaching approximately 1,483,000 m³/day by 2032. The new projects will supplement the 300,000 m³/day Ghubrah III IWP already under construction and due online in 2027.
What's Next? Procurement begins once the Pre-Investment Appraisal Documents receive regulatory approval. Nama PWP is coordinating site selection with Nama Water Services for North Batinah and conducting a hydrological study for the Dhofar project at Raysut.
Saudi Arabia: $30 Billion Pipeline Expansion Plan Detailed Amid Regional Security Concerns
What's New? A Saudi Water Authority report, prepared with Oliver Wyman, confirmed that the Kingdom plans to build over 10,000 km of new water transmission pipelines by 2030, with an investment of close to $30 billion — representing about 90 percent of the region's total transmission spend.
Why It Matters: Saudi Arabia meets 70 percent of its water needs through desalination across 32 plants at 17 locations, and national demand is expected to reach nearly 18 million m³/day by 2030. The pipeline program is critical for distributing desalinated water inland and building system redundancy following the March targeting of desalination plants in the Gulf.
What's Next? The priority is execution discipline — accelerating tenders, maintaining bankable procurement, and broadening the investable pipeline. Sharakat, formerly the Saudi Water Partnership Company, already has more than $11 billion in PPP projects under development.
Why It Matters: Saudi Arabia meets 70 percent of its water needs through desalination across 32 plants at 17 locations, and national demand is expected to reach nearly 18 million m³/day by 2030. The pipeline program is critical for distributing desalinated water inland and building system redundancy following the March targeting of desalination plants in the Gulf.
What's Next? The priority is execution discipline — accelerating tenders, maintaining bankable procurement, and broadening the investable pipeline. Sharakat, formerly the Saudi Water Partnership Company, already has more than $11 billion in PPP projects under development.
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Technology Spotlight
Free
AI-Powered Smart Water Quality Monitoring Platform — KAHRAMAA
What It Does: KAHRAMAA, Qatar's national water and electricity utility, launched the Aqua-Intelligence innovation challenge to deploy AI-powered smart meters that continuously monitor pH, turbidity, chlorine, and conductivity across District Metered Areas, replacing reactive lab-based sampling with 24/7 predictive dashboards and real-time contamination alerts.
Why It Matters: Qatar currently lacks continuous water quality management across its network. This initiative shifts monitoring from periodic laboratory analysis to proactive, AI-driven intelligence, strengthening public health protection and enabling data-informed resource planning aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030.
Strategic Impact: Successful deployment would establish a scalable model for real-time water quality governance across GCC utility networks, improve customer confidence through transparent quality data, and position Qatar as a regional leader in digitally integrated water operations.
Why It Matters: Qatar currently lacks continuous water quality management across its network. This initiative shifts monitoring from periodic laboratory analysis to proactive, AI-driven intelligence, strengthening public health protection and enabling data-informed resource planning aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030.
Strategic Impact: Successful deployment would establish a scalable model for real-time water quality governance across GCC utility networks, improve customer confidence through transparent quality data, and position Qatar as a regional leader in digitally integrated water operations.
Solar-Powered Desalination with Energy Storage Integration — Saudi Arabia
What It Does: Saudi Arabia is advancing hybrid systems that pair solar photovoltaic generation with battery and thermal energy storage to power desalination plants, enabling renewable output to be shifted to evening and overnight peak demand periods — particularly during seasonal consumption surges when daily water distribution exceeds 11 million cubic meters.
Why It Matters: With desalination supplying 70 percent of Saudi Arabia's drinking water, coupling solar energy — now at 11.9 gigawatts of installed capacity — with storage directly addresses the energy intensity of water production while reducing grid pressure, emissions, and operational costs during demand peaks.
Strategic Impact: Hybrid solar-storage desalination offers a replicable model for decarbonizing water production across arid regions, lowering lifecycle costs and building operational flexibility as the Kingdom scales toward its 2030 target of nearly 18 million cubic meters of daily water demand.
Why It Matters: With desalination supplying 70 percent of Saudi Arabia's drinking water, coupling solar energy — now at 11.9 gigawatts of installed capacity — with storage directly addresses the energy intensity of water production while reducing grid pressure, emissions, and operational costs during demand peaks.
Strategic Impact: Hybrid solar-storage desalination offers a replicable model for decarbonizing water production across arid regions, lowering lifecycle costs and building operational flexibility as the Kingdom scales toward its 2030 target of nearly 18 million cubic meters of daily water demand.
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Investment Tracker
Free
Major water infrastructure projects confirmed, financed, or tendered across the region in 2026.
Jordan: Aqaba–Amman Water Desalination & Conveyance (National Water Carrier)
Meridiam / Suez · PPP (BOT) · A ~US$6 billion scheme centred on a 300 million m³/year Red Sea desalination plant, a 438 km pipeline to Amman, and a 281 MW solar farm. Jordan secured a US$189 million Arab Fund loan and a US$203 million US grant in 2026. Construction is planned from early 2026.
~US$6bn
Confirmed
Morocco: Casablanca–Settat Desalination Plant
ACCIONA-led Al Baidaa consortium / ONEE · PPP (27-year concession) · Financing has been signed for a €613 million (MAD 6.5 billion) desalination plant with 300 million m³/year capacity, serving 7.5 million people. The project will be powered by the 360 MW Bir Anzarane wind farm and is targeted for completion in 2028.
€613m
Confirmed
04
Upcoming Event
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SIEE Pollutec 2026 — International Exhibition of Water and Climate Transition · 1–4 June 2026
SAFEX, Pins Maritimes, Algiers, Algeria. North Africa's flagship water, energy, and environment exhibition has run since 2005 and convenes more than 200 exhibitors alongside public, private, and institutional stakeholders focused on climate-resilient infrastructure and sustainable resource management.
Analytical edition
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Subscriber analysis covering the policy, market, research and strategic implications developed in Middle East and North Africa Water Intelligence Brief — April 2026.
05
Analysis
Subscriber sectionHow layered finance, public-private partnerships and sovereign capital are supporting desalination, reuse and network investment as MENA governments confront the scale and delivery risks of regional water scarcity.
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Policy Watch
Subscriber sectionHow Turkey’s national water plan, Oman’s resilience rules and wider regional reforms are turning strategic ambition into operating targets, utility obligations and more enforceable water governance.
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Market Forecast
Subscriber sectionExpected growth in desalination capacity, project pipelines and related infrastructure demand, together with the financing and delivery conditions likely to shape investment across MENA through 2028.
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Research Spotlight
Subscriber sectionEmerging KAUST research into low-energy membrane distillation for seawater and concentrated brines, with attention to the technical evidence required before scalable regional deployment. The focus is evidence for future practical application.
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Final Thoughts
Subscriber sectionA strategic synthesis of binding water plans, resilience regulation, large-scale investment pipelines and maturing finance, and the signals most important to MENA’s next phase of delivery.
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