In August 2018, Al Arabiya English, citing the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), reported how Saudi Arabia's National Water Company (NWC) supplied pilgrims with desalinated water. On Hajj's seventh day, about 732,000 m³ arrived from desalination plants serving Mecca and the holy sites, the NWC said. Some 462,000 m³ went to the city, 155,000 m³ to the holy sites and 115,000 m³ via tanker trucks. Strategic and operational reserves stood at 2.02 million m³, and the NWC reported no supply interruptions.
The report showed the scale at which Mecca's supply during Hajj relied on desalination plants and large reserves to absorb peaks caused by pilgrim numbers and heat.