Saudi Arabia extracting Water from Syrian Desert
Saudi Arabia is drilling for a resource possibly more precious than oil.
Over the last 24 years, it has tapped hidden reserves of water to grow wheat and other crops in the Syrian Desert. This time series of data shows images acquired by three different Landsat satellites operated by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The green fields that dot the desert draw on water that in part was trapped during the last Ice Age. In addition to rainwater that fell over several hundred thousand years, this fossil water filled aquifers that are now buried deep under the desert's shifting sands.
Saudi Arabia reaches these underground rivers and lakes by drilling through the desert floor, directly irrigating the fields with a circular sprinkler system. This technique is called center-pivot irrigation.
Because rainfall in this area is now only a few centimeters (about one inch) each year, water here is a non-renewable resource. Although no one knows how much water is beneath the desert, hydrologists estimate it will only be economical to pump water for about 50 years.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/saudi-green.html
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Apparently they haven't learned the lesson the US is about to learn the hard way when the Ogallala aquifer gives out: this is the dumbest, most wasteful way possible to raise crops in a semi-arid/arid climate. On top of that, they would require gobs of synthetic fertilizer considering the lack of organic material found in desert soils. At least countries like Israel have learned to use enclosed poly-tunnels and drip irrigation on a massive scale to conserve water.
Anyone know what kind of crops they're raising, BTW? I hope it's something that's at least moderately drought tolerant, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me they're growing rice 
