Saudi Arabia Reservoir Transparency

No current or near-real-time dam storage levels are publicly accessible. The best available public data is the GASTAT Water Accounts Publication 2023 (covering 2021–2023), which reports aggregate national surface water use figures but not per-reservoir fill volumes. MEWA's 2023 annual report confirms 559 dams with ~2.4 BCM total designed capacity, but publishes only static design figures — not operational storage readings. MEWA deployed 200 telemetry sensors in dam lakes starting August 2024 (Jazan and Beesh as pilots), but the data feeds an internal SCADA control room, not a public portal. The SWA operates a water-sector dashboard (swa.gov.sa/en/Dashboards) but it covers utility-sector KPIs, not individual dam storage levels. Evidence of any public portal showing current reservoir fill percentages or volumes was not found.

Water data is published primarily as PDF reports (GASTAT Water Accounts, MEWA annual report). The Saudi Open Data Portal (od.data.gov.sa) hosts 11,000+ datasets including some MEWA entries, and supports CSV/JSON/XML downloads without registration, but confirmed water-related datasets from MEWA focus on agricultural activity and human resources rather than dam storage. The Saudi Irrigation Organization (sio.gov.sa) advertises an open data API, but the API appears limited to irrigation scheduling and operational logistics — not dam storage volumes. The SWA open data library publishes some sector statistics. No REST API endpoint for dam water levels or reservoir fill data was located.

v1.3.0 capacity-weighted: coverage = round(100 × covered_capacity_hm³ / total_national_capacity_hm³). Saudi Arabia operates 559 dams with ~2,400 Mm³ total designed capacity, dominated by the six largest dams (King Fahd 325 Mm³, Wadi Hali 254, Wadi Rabigh 220, Wadi Baysh 194, Wadi Qanuna 80, Wadi Jazan 55) and a long tail of smaller wadi recharge/storage structures. GASTAT Water Accounts and MEWA aggregate disclosures provide partial visibility into national surface water totals (without per-dam disaggregation); the 200-sensor telemetry program installed from August 2024 feeds an internal SCADA control room not yet exposed publicly. Capacity-weighted covered storage ≈ 360 Mm³ on a generous accounting of aggregate national-level disclosures plus partial visibility into King Fahd and the Jazan/Beesh telemetry pilots. Coverage = round(100 × 360 / 2,400) = 15. The capacity-weighted view modestly raises the score above zero but remains low because no per-dam storage volumes are published.

GASTAT publishes the Water Accounts covering 2021–2023 (3-year window), with aggregate surface-water abstraction figures traceable back to 2021 in machine-readable PDF form. MEWA statistical yearbooks (Arabic-primary) document dam counts and capacity from the 2000s onward, and MEWA data 2010–2019 is available via GASTAT's General Authority for Statistics. Academic literature cites MEWA hydrological network records extending to the mid-1960s, but these are not publicly downloadable. No machine-readable time series of per-reservoir storage going back more than 3–5 years was found in the public domain. Historical inflow and storage data requires direct contact with MEWA or access to restricted administrative records.

The most current confirmed public data is the GASTAT Water Accounts Publication 2023, released in late 2024 / early 2025 — an annual cadence with roughly a 12–18 month publication lag. MEWA's annual report for 2023 was referenced in early 2024. No sub-annual (monthly, seasonal) or real-time publication of dam storage was found. The SWA Sustainability Report 2024 covers utility-level performance, not dam levels. The 200-sensor telemetry network installed from August 2024 transmits real-time data internally but no public-facing update feed was identified.

GASTAT published a Methodology and Quality Report for the Water Accounts system, citing SEEA Central Framework standards and identifying source agencies (NWC, SWA, MEWA, SWPC, MARAFIQ). Data collection is annual, measured in cubic metres per SEEA definitions. However, the methodology report explicitly does not describe dam-specific measurement methods — how storage volumes are computed (bathymetric surveys, stage-volume curves, remote sensing) is not explained in any publicly available document. MEWA operates a hydrological network but its measurement protocols are not published in English. Academic papers note that MEWA data is used but provided directly to researchers under data-sharing arrangements rather than published openly.

The GASTAT Water Accounts 2023 is published in English (PDF). The SWA website (swa.gov.sa) and Saudipedia are accessible in English. MEWA's English portal exists but many statistical sections display 'English content is not yet available,' with Arabic content only accessible via the Arabic interface. The Saudi Open Data Portal (od.data.gov.sa) supports English browsing. For the limited dam-related data that does exist publicly, partial English access is feasible, but key operational detail — including MEWA dam-specific reports and the Arabic-language statistical yearbooks — is Arabic-only.