Saudi Arabia consumed 3 bln cubic meters of drinking water in 2017

Saudi Arabia’s drinking water consumption rose by 0.64 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 3.15 billion cubic meters in 2017, data issued by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture showed.

Desalinated water accounted for 69 percent (2.18 billion cubic meters) of the total distribution of drinking water for the year, while groundwater represented 31 percent or 975 million cubic meters.

Riyadh topped the list in terms of water consumed by various cities in the Kingdom, with 1.07 billion cubic meters of drinking water, or 34 percent of the total consumption. It was followed by Makkah at 750 million cubic meters, or 23.8 percent.

The average per capita consumption rate in Saudi Arabia reached 265 liters per day in 2017, as shown in the following table:

The number of consumers rose 6 percent YoY to 1.97 million in 2017.

Riyadh had the largest number of consumers at 612,700, while Makkah had 349,400 last year.