Beginning in 1985, Saudi Arabia focused on ways to economize and regulate the use of water through the National Water Plan. The plan provides for conservation, greater coordination between agriculture and water policies, intensive use of reclaimed waste and surface water, and better coordination of supply and distribution.

Deep under the surface of Saudi Arabia, extensive reservoirs of water are stored in the rock. These aquifers, or water-bearing layers of sedimentary rock, constitute the country's major source of water. The government has drilled many deep wells throughout much of the desert to supply the Bedouins and numerous agricultural wells in the more fertile valleys. Another major source of water is from the sea. Saudi Arabia is now the world's largest producer of desalinated water. Every day the country's 30 desalination plants pump almost 600 million gallons of water through nearly 2,000 miles of pipeline, meeting 70 percent of the Kingdom's needs for drinking water. The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) plans 20 more such plants. To collect precious surface water during seasonal floods, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water has built more than 200 dams with a total reservoir capacity of 15.9 billion cubic feet of water. The larger dams such as those in the Wadi Jizan, Wadi Fatima, Wadi Bisha and Najran, supply irrigation water for thousands of acres of cultivated land. The Wadi Bisha dam, the second largest in the Middle East, has a reservoir capacity of 86 billion gallons and supplies water for both agricultural and urban use.

Another expanding source of water is treated urban wastewater. It is estimated that approximately 40 percent of the water used for domestic purposes in urban areas could be recycled. The Ministry of Agriculture and Water has constructed are cycling plant in Riyadh that provides more than seven million cubic feet of treated wastewater. Another facility operates in Jeddah and several other plants are under construction.