Saudi Arabia's water problem has a surprising solution: Its own wastewater
May 05, 2026
More than two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's irrigation water and a third of the country's drinking water comes from groundwater, yet aquifers are being depleted faster than they recharge. At the same time, sewage treatment generates large volumes of treated wastewater: 1.6 billion cubic meters of treated
wastewater is underutilized throughout the country each year, says Mohammed Benaafi, a research scientist at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. ...read more read less