Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Qatar is a peninsula that has no rivers, no lakes and no dams.  Rainfall is sparse, and there has been little attempt to capture and use run off for any particular purpose, as far as I can see. (Take note of streets full of water after a rainstorm).   All the water that we use here - be it for drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning and industrial/commercial use - comes from massive desalination efforts.  The country uses holding tanks that store enough water for seven days I think, but obviously it is continuously replenished.  (Here's wishing that they did something with the salt extracted, but ... not yet - that just gets poured back into the ocean).

There are no underground pipe systems linking the entire city grid.  However, each compound, building, highrise, etc has its own underground pipes that deliver water, and get rid of waste.  I can only speak for our own compound, but the sewage trucks zip up and down every day sucking up the stuff and depositing it who knows where.  (We are in an "almost" situation - the relevant department is just down the road now laying down the miles of pipes that will connect us to a more major system in the very near future).   Our water is deposited into holding tanks (as seen in photo) in the compound and is then piped to each individual villa.  The water tanks are everywhere - on rooftops, and in backyards all across Doha.  And this, of course, explains another phenomenon - the water emanating from the cold tap is never cold because it sits in plastic tanks in searing heat for most of the year.  (Oops, should I be worrying about the plastic contamination now as well??)  On a positive note, new design and construction appears to be taking a closer look at improving the current system.

Insha'Allah