This will be the Arab world's next battle

Population growth and water supply are on a collision course. Hunger is set to become the main issue



Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and growing food insecurity.

In some countries grain production is now falling as aquifers – underground water-bearing rocks – are depleted. After the Arab oil-export embargo of the 1970s, the Saudis realised that since they were heavily dependent on imported grain, they were vulnerable to a grain counter-embargo. Using oil-drilling technology, they tapped into an aquifer far below the desert to produce irrigated wheat. In a matter of years, Saudi Arabia was self-sufficient in its principal food staple.

But after more than 20 years of wheat self-sufficiency, the Saudis announced in January 2008 that this aquifer was largely depleted and they would be phasing out wheat production. Between 2007 and 2010, the harvest of nearly 3m tonnes dropped by more than two-thirds. At this rate the Saudis could harvest their last wheat crop in 2012 and then be totally dependent on imported grain to feed their population of nearly 30 million.

The unusually rapid phaseout of wheat farming in Saudi Arabia is due to two factors. First, in this arid country there is little farming without irrigation. Second, irrigation depends almost entirely on a fossil aquifer – which, unlike most aquifers, does not recharge naturally from rainfall. And the desalted sea water the country uses to supply its cities is far too costly for irrigation use – even for the Saudis.

more...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/22/water-the-next-arab-battle

us that there isn't enough for everyone, just enough to kill and die for, and make profits for the oligarchs.

We can ship crude oil thousands of miles by tanker and pipeline, refine it into plastics, fertilizers, gasoline, diesel, benzene, and a thousand other things, but pipelining water a few hundred miles and taking the salt out of it is just too hard.

I'm glad I'm old enough to be dead before they get their way on this one.

and this is not such a place. Or so they tell me.

I've seen posts and discussions about it here before. You, no?

How to drip water crops instead of traditional irrigation, but I guess that would have been too much cooperation.

Here in the sw us we drip water everything, seriously everything, every tree and shrub in phoenix you see landscaped next to the road is drip watered. I personally have three seperate drip systems running in my front and back yards, very economical way to water because if set up right the water gets right to the roots and little else.