Redefining the Hydro-Social Contract in Saudi Arabia: Between Vision and Structural Inertia

This article analyzes the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s hydro-social contract amid climate change and energy transition. Based on extensive literature, long-term empirical research, and a framework combining social contract theory and hydrological insights, it argues that recent water governance reforms are largely technological and elite-driven forming a hydro-social coalition of public institutions, private corporations, and elite research bodies. The Saudi state continues to favor supply-side solutions, especially energy-intensive desalination, while paying limited attention to demand-side challenges and ecological constraints. This reinforces existing power structures, deepens exclusion, and worsens environmental degradation. Water governance in the country thus reflects a broader techno-authoritarian model rooted in infrastructural control rather than systemic transformation. The article shows how state authority, socio-economic privilege, and environmental constraints shape current dynamics. Without confronting these structural conditions, especially under decarbonization pressures, Saudi Arabia’s water governance will remain unsustainable and inequitable.