01
Key Developments
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Kuwait: Strike damages a power and desalination plant
What's New? A strike on 17 July damaged generation units at a Kuwaiti power and water distillation plant. Authorities contained the resulting fire and activated emergency measures intended to protect electricity supply and water-service continuity.
Why It Matters: Kuwait obtains about 90 percent of its drinking water from desalination. Damage to co-located power and water assets therefore concentrates operational risk and increases the strategic value of storage, redundancy, and protected supply routes.
What's Next? Technical assessments should establish the affected capacity, expected repair period, and level of reserve deployment. Utilities should also test whether emergency storage and interconnections can sustain essential services during an extended outage.
Why It Matters: Kuwait obtains about 90 percent of its drinking water from desalination. Damage to co-located power and water assets therefore concentrates operational risk and increases the strategic value of storage, redundancy, and protected supply routes.
What's Next? Technical assessments should establish the affected capacity, expected repair period, and level of reserve deployment. Utilities should also test whether emergency storage and interconnections can sustain essential services during an extended outage.
Saudi Arabia: First treated water advances the Zuluf oilfield asset
What's New? Fisia Italimpianti produced the first usable water from Saudi Aramco's Zuluf groundwater treatment plant on 1 July. The facility is designed to treat up to 185,000 cubic metres of groundwater daily at full capacity.
Why It Matters: The plant connects water treatment directly with reservoir-pressure management and crude production. Its performance will influence industrial throughput, residual-waste handling, and delivery under a contracted operations and maintenance period extending for 25 years.
What's Next? Commercial operation is the next milestone. Operators must confirm treatment quality, gas removal, waste minimisation, and dependable output under high salinity and hydrocarbon loading before the facility can support sustained oilfield operations.
Why It Matters: The plant connects water treatment directly with reservoir-pressure management and crude production. Its performance will influence industrial throughput, residual-waste handling, and delivery under a contracted operations and maintenance period extending for 25 years.
What's Next? Commercial operation is the next milestone. Operators must confirm treatment quality, gas removal, waste minimisation, and dependable output under high salinity and hydrocarbon loading before the facility can support sustained oilfield operations.
Lebanon: Greater Beirut procurement moves water-supply completion toward delivery
What's New? The World Bank published an updated procurement plan on 8 July for Lebanon's US$257.8 million Second Greater Beirut Water Supply Project, which is intended to improve water services for approximately 1.8 million people.
Why It Matters: Procurement converts approved financing into tunnels, pipelines, reservoirs, meters, and utility reforms. Further delays would prolong intermittent supply, dependence on private tankers, and financial pressure on the responsible regional water establishment.
What's Next? Reviewers should monitor contract awards, land access, construction sequencing, and implementation of the utility reforms needed to ensure that completed bulk-water assets remain operational and financially supportable after commissioning.
Why It Matters: Procurement converts approved financing into tunnels, pipelines, reservoirs, meters, and utility reforms. Further delays would prolong intermittent supply, dependence on private tankers, and financial pressure on the responsible regional water establishment.
What's Next? Reviewers should monitor contract awards, land access, construction sequencing, and implementation of the utility reforms needed to ensure that completed bulk-water assets remain operational and financially supportable after commissioning.
02
Technology Spotlight
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Nautilus In-Line Inspection — ONEE
What It Does: Aganova and ONEE inspected more than 60 kilometres of a live DN1200 transmission pipeline near Khouribga. A free-swimming acoustic sphere collected condition and leakage data without interrupting water service or requiring pipeline shutdown.
Why It Matters: In-line inspection gives operators direct evidence of asset condition before failure. This supports risk-based maintenance on strategic transmission infrastructure and reduces service exposure from undetected leakage, structural defects, and unplanned pipeline outages.
Strategic Impact: The inspection identified nine confirmed anomalies, including high-severity locations. Estimated leakage reached 36.7 cubic metres per hour at individual sites, giving ONEE a defined repair sequence and clearer priorities for maintenance expenditure.
Why It Matters: In-line inspection gives operators direct evidence of asset condition before failure. This supports risk-based maintenance on strategic transmission infrastructure and reduces service exposure from undetected leakage, structural defects, and unplanned pipeline outages.
Strategic Impact: The inspection identified nine confirmed anomalies, including high-severity locations. Estimated leakage reached 36.7 cubic metres per hour at individual sites, giving ONEE a defined repair sequence and clearer priorities for maintenance expenditure.
Seawater Reverse Osmosis with Production Storage — Fujairah I
What It Does: The Fujairah I independent water project will use seawater reverse osmosis to produce 60 million imperial gallons daily. Its design also includes storage equivalent to 18 hours of production to support operational continuity.
Why It Matters: The project shifts supply toward lower-energy membrane treatment while adding a short-duration operating buffer. This combination reduces dependence on thermal desalination, moderates fuel exposure, and improves resilience during temporary production or network disruption.
Strategic Impact: The AED1.046 billion EPC programme targets staged operation within a 30-month delivery period. Performance will depend on intake reliability, membrane efficiency, coastal construction, and effective integration of storage with the wider supply system.
Why It Matters: The project shifts supply toward lower-energy membrane treatment while adding a short-duration operating buffer. This combination reduces dependence on thermal desalination, moderates fuel exposure, and improves resilience during temporary production or network disruption.
Strategic Impact: The AED1.046 billion EPC programme targets staged operation within a 30-month delivery period. Performance will depend on intake reliability, membrane efficiency, coastal construction, and effective integration of storage with the wider supply system.
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Investment Tracker
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Major water infrastructure projects confirmed, financed, or tendered across the region in July 2026.
Tunisia: Water Security and Resilience Program — Phase 1
World Bank programme · Approved financing · Expands the Zarat desalination plant, rehabilitates water networks, deploys 100,000 smart meters, modernises irrigation systems, and strengthens utility operations under a national water-security and resilience programme.
US$332.5m
Confirmed
Jordan: Aqaba–Amman National Water Carrier
Meridiam-led PPP · Final technical and legal agreement · The US$4.3 billion project advanced toward financial close, although current evidence of completed closure remains unconfirmed and should be monitored before construction mobilisation.
US$4.3bn
Announced
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Upcoming Event
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WETEX 2026 · 20–22 October 2026
Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. DEWA's annual exhibition brings together utilities, public authorities, engineers, investors, and technology suppliers working across water, energy, environmental services, and infrastructure.
Focus: The water programme covers desalination, treatment, reuse, digital operations, and water-energy integration, with particular relevance to utility resilience, infrastructure continuity, operating efficiency, and regional water-security planning.
Features: Water-focused seminars, supplier exhibitions, innovation sessions, and cross-sector meetings will connect utilities, regulators, engineers, investors, and technology providers assessing storage, monitoring, membrane systems, energy efficiency, and continuity solutions.
Focus: The water programme covers desalination, treatment, reuse, digital operations, and water-energy integration, with particular relevance to utility resilience, infrastructure continuity, operating efficiency, and regional water-security planning.
Features: Water-focused seminars, supplier exhibitions, innovation sessions, and cross-sector meetings will connect utilities, regulators, engineers, investors, and technology providers assessing storage, monitoring, membrane systems, energy efficiency, and continuity solutions.
Analytical edition
Continue into the analytical edition
This edition examines how desalination disruption, infrastructure investment and operating resilience are shifting attention from installed capacity to continuity of service.
05
Analysis
Subscriber sectionHow desalination disruption, transmission constraints, operating resilience and infrastructure investment are changing assessments of reliable water delivery across MENA, including the conditions that determine continuity under pressure.
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Policy Watch
Subscriber sectionHow water-policy frameworks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt may influence delivery responsibilities, operating standards, digital oversight and future investment governance across national and utility systems.
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Market Forecast
Subscriber sectionWhere desalination expansion and smart-network deployment are likely to shape procurement, operating models, capital allocation and technology demand across MENA water markets in the coming years.
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Research Spotlight
Subscriber sectionNew membrane research for high-salinity treatment, seawater desalination and brine management, and the technical and deployment evidence needed to assess scalable application across MENA. The focus is evidence for practical application.
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Final Thoughts
Subscriber sectionA strategic synthesis of July’s desalination, reuse, transmission and digital-monitoring developments, with the regional service-continuity and operating-resilience signals most important to the next planning cycle.
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