Page 36 - U4SSC Factsheet, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 2020

Water and Sanitation

Category KPI Result Performance to Benchmark SDG

Drinking Water 100.00 %
Quality

Water Consumption 350.57
(per capita) ℓ / day

Freshwater 33.00 %
Consumption

Wastewater 79.22 %
Treatment: Primary

Wastewater
Treatment: 24.50 %
Secondary

Wastewater 0.02%
Treatment: Tertiary

Water safety and quality are priorities in Saudi Arabian cities, including Riyadh, which is reflected in
the city’s overall positive performance in this category. However, Riyadh's consumption figures are
significantly higher than the average national levels of approximately 265 litres per capita. This is
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notable as Saudi Arabia is the world’s third largest per capita consumer of water (after the US and
Canada).
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Optimizing water consumption and sanitation measures: The country recognizes the above and,
at the Saudi Water Forum 2019 on 22 March 2019 (that was held in conjunction with World Water
Day), announced a national programme called ‘Qatrah’ (which means ‘droplet’ in Arabic) for water
conservation in the kingdom. The programme aims to reduce daily per capita water consumption
across the country by nearly 24 per cent in 2020 to 200 litres, and by 43 per cent to 150 litres by the
end of the next decade, i.e. 2030. This effort is important as most of the country’s water comes from
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non-renewable groundwater found in deep fossil aquifers, or from desalination.

In order to achieve the targets set by the Qatrah programme, it is recommended that Riyadh analyse its
high water consumption and monitor how much customer water demands (residential and business/
industrial) account for of the city’s total water production volume. This should be summplemented
by evaluation of peak day, time and seasonal water consumption trends. The city should then set
progressive annual, quarterly, monthly or daily water consumption targets that consider reasonable
customer demand and an acceptable level of non-revenue water.

In the past, Riyadh has taken successful steps in this regard, including increasing water tariffs and
distributing free efficient water appliances (e.g. taps, shower heads) that resulted in notable residential

30 U4SSC Factsheet | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | June 2020