Middle East Water Tech Brief – February 2026
Welcome to this month’s edition of the Middle East Water Tech Brief, your essential source for the latest water innovations, investments, and policies shaping the region’s water security.
Water security across the Middle East is entering a transformative era, driven by strategic investments, climate-resilient infrastructure, and smart water technologies.
In this edition of the Middle East Water Tech Brief, we spotlight new policy actions in Jordan, Egypt, and Abu Dhabi, track major capital deployments in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and examine how smart technologies are strengthening system efficiency, resilience, and long-term supply security across the region.
Key Developments
Jordan: Updated Water Sources Protection Instructions
What’s New?
Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation has launched an updated version of the Water Sources Protection Instructions for 2025, strengthening controls on groundwater abstraction, discharges, and pollution around strategic water sources.
Why It Matters:
The new rules target chronic over-pumping and contamination risks affecting Jordan’s aquifers and surface reservoirs, positioning water source protection as a core pillar of national water security amid one of the world’s highest water‑scarcity pressures.
What’s Next?
The ministry plans to roll out stricter monitoring, enforcement, and stakeholder engagement, supported by German technical cooperation, to ensure the updated instructions translate into measurable improvements in basin health and long‑term reliability of supply.
Egypt – Managing Nile Water During Winter Rains
What’s New?
Egypt’s Irrigation Minister confirmed that the ministry is efficiently managing Nile water flows during the current spell of heavy winter rains and flash floods, using 24‑hour monitoring to balance flood protection with the needs of all water users.
Why It Matters:
The update underscores Egypt’s reliance on active river regulation and multi‑layer coordination to protect people and infrastructure, while ensuring that irrigation, drinking water and navigation demands are met despite increasingly volatile rainfall patterns.
What’s Next?
The Permanent Committee for the Regulation of Nile River Revenues will continue meeting regularly to review inflows, reservoir levels and network capacity, adjusting operating rules as needed to maintain safety and water security through the winter season.
Abu Dhabi: Efficient Appliances Procurement Policy
What’s New?
The Abu Dhabi Department of Energy has introduced an Efficient Appliances Procurement Policy for government entities, requiring applicable appliances to meet high efficiency standards to drive down energy and water use in public sector facilities.
Why It Matters:
By embedding efficiency requirements into government purchasing, the policy creates a structural shift in demand towards high‑performance technologies, with the DoE projecting meaningful annual water savings by 2030 and reinforcing sustainability as a default in public operations.
What’s Next?
As appliance stocks are renewed across government buildings, the policy is expected to accelerate market uptake of efficient equipment, support Abu Dhabi’s broader water and energy efficiency targets, and provide a model for codes and standards in the wider region.
Technology Spotlight: Innovations in Water Management
AI Powered Smart Meter Project – Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi
What it Does:
The AI Powered Smart Meter Project installs digital water meters on farms in Al Wathba and links them to the AD.WE platform, providing real time data on consumption, enabling precise measurement, monitoring and control of agricultural water use.
Why it Matters:
By combining smart meters with artificial intelligence and analytics, the project helps identify waste, ensure equitable water distribution and give farmers actionable insights, strengthening both on farm efficiency and Abu Dhabi’s broader water and food security agenda.
Impact:
Following a successful pilot, the project now covers 80 farms in Al Wathba and will expand to Al Nahda and Al Rahba, creating a scalable model for smart agriculture that embeds digital water management across thousands of farms in the emirate.
Open Platform Communication Gateway for Water OT Systems – DEWA
What it Does:
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s Open Platform Communication Gateway links multiple operational technology water systems into one secure, interoperable platform, enabling continuous remote monitoring, control and data exchange across Dubai’s potable water transmission and distribution networks.
Why it Matters:
By unifying disparate control systems, the gateway reduces silos, improves situational awareness and shortens response times to leaks or failures, enhancing the reliability, efficiency and resilience of critical water infrastructure serving Dubai’s growing population and economy.
Impact:
DEWA reports improved network reliability, reduced operational time and stronger readiness of its water system, supporting uninterrupted service delivery and advancing Dubai’s broader digital transformation and smart‑city ambitions in the utilities sector.
Investment Tracker: Major Water Infrastructure Projects in 2026
Qatar
Project / Investment Name: KAHRAMAA water network enhancement and expansion tenders (multiple packages)
Value, contract type: Multi‑year water projects tenders for expanding and upgrading water stations, pipelines, and water quality equipment across Qatar, procured via open electronic tenders issued in January 2026.
KAHRAMAA launched several January 2026 tenders to expand water stations, upgrade transmission pipelines, and modernise water quality equipment, signalling continued capital investment to meet rising urban demand and maintain high service reliability across Qatar’s network.
Saudi Arabia
Project / Investment Name: National rainwater harvesting dams initiative under Vision 2030
Value, contract type: Completed water projects now exceed SR230 billion, including around SR10 billion in public infrastructure and more than SR45 billion through public‑private partnership arrangements across dams, networks and reuse schemes.
Saudi Arabia is rolling out more than 1,000 rainwater harvesting dams nationwide as part of SR230 billion of completed water projects, using a mix of public spending and private‑sector partnerships to secure supplies and restore ecosystems.
Upcoming Event
6th MENA Desalination Projects Forum
Dates: 26–27 February 2025, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – the region’s largest government‑endorsed desalination conference bringing together over 400 public and private stakeholders.
Focus: Upcoming mega desalination projects, national sustainability visions, and strategies to close the region’s water‑supply gap using low‑carbon, energy‑efficient technologies and financing models.
Features: High‑level panels, technical workshops and an exhibition where utilities, EPCs and technology providers showcase innovations in membranes, hybrid plants, brine management and digital optimisation for Gulf and wider MENA markets.
Want More? Unlock Next-Level Intelligence
The Middle East Water Tech Brief – Premium Edition delivers expert, in-depth analysis of the region’s rapidly expanding water infrastructure landscape. It is designed for decision-makers, investors, and technology leaders navigating the intersection of water security, climate resilience, regulation, and large-scale capital deployment.
This edition focuses on how desalination, wastewater reuse, and long-distance transmission mega-projects are reshaping national water systems and redefining regional investment priorities.
Why It Matters
The Middle East has entered a decisive phase of water infrastructure transformation. Governments are moving beyond short-term supply expansion toward integrated, climate-resilient systems built around desalination, reuse, and regional conveyance. These mega-projects are now central to national development visions, industrial growth strategies, and long-term climate adaptation planning.
At the same time, regulatory consolidation, PPP-led delivery models, and performance-based targets are changing how water assets are financed, governed, and operated. For stakeholders across the value chain, understanding how infrastructure scale, regulation, and system efficiency interact is now essential to managing risk and capturing opportunity in the region’s largest water market.
What You Will Discover
How multi-billion-dollar desalination, wastewater, and transmission programmes in the GCC and wider MENA region are embedding water security into national economic visions
Why wastewater reuse and circular water systems are becoming core infrastructure priorities alongside desalination
How long-distance transmission corridors are enabling coastal desalination to supply inland cities, industry, and growth zones
Where regulatory reform in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi is reducing investor risk and shifting focus from asset expansion to performance outcomes
How energy efficiency, digital optimisation, and system integration are becoming decisive factors for project viability and long-term affordability
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