Spiegel Online published a 2,000-word article recently on how a German firm has been working for the last six years to search for water in the Saudi desert. Saudi Life sums it up in about 800 words for you.

Contractors drill up to 2,000 meters deep, conduct pumping tests, and apply complex measuring techniques and computer models, to find out how much fossil groundwater remains stored between layers of rock beneath the Arabian Peninsula. The water they're drilling up has been stored since Ice Age.

Fossil groundwater is the only natural water source in a region without rivers and lakes, where every raindrop is an event. After the last ice age, when the climate on the Arabian Peninsula was similar, in terms of temperature and precipitation, to that of savanna regions today, the water seeped away into the ground, eventually accumulating in hollow spaces between layers of sedimentary rock.

Most of this water is in eastern Saudi Arabia, precisely where most of the country's oil and natural gas reserves are located. As a result, geologists searching for oil sometimes find water instead, or vice-versa. And like oil, the precious drops of water from the last ice age are finite. Too much of that water is now being pumped out of ever-deeper wells, causing the water table to drop. This in turn allows salt water to seep into the groundwater along the coasts.

In Wasia, 100 kilometers (63 miles) east of Riyadh, Rausch's crew is drilling deep exploratory holes. Mario Rescia, managing director of Saudi drilling company Hajjan Drilling, is in charge of the pumping tests. Immigrant workers in yellow overalls and helmets work 12-hour shifts on the 27-meter drilling rig, at temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius -- in the shade. "We do our best to help them stand it," says Rescia. "There are refrigerators and drinks."

And then, at his command, water suddenly starts bubbling out of the desert sand: clear, warm water, an amazing sight in a region that seems lifeless, aside from a few Bedouin and camels. The water is clean enough to drink, although it tastes a little stagnant -- which is hardly surprising, given that it's 25,000 years old.

The article also gives good information on Saudi agriculture. Some 85% of the water consumed yearly (19b cubic meters) is used in agriculture. Only 8% of the country's water is derived from seawater in energy-intensive desalination plants. The rest is groundwater.

The problem, the report says, is because of agricultural practices like wheat farming, which suck up a lot of water. The government has apparently recognized this issue. It stopped subsidizing wheat farming two years ago and "ordered that domestic wheat production be discontinued by 2016."

The report quotes Mohammed Al-Saud, 44, the deputy water minister.

Importing wheat, says the deputy minister, would be a sensible alternative to farming, and the country could also reduce its production of green animal fodder. Another alternative would be to acquire farmland abroad. The government recently began supporting Saudi businessmen who buy or lease land in other countries. Other Arab and Asian nations with water problems, like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and China, are pursuing similar plans.

Saudi Arabian investors have already signed contracts with a number of countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan, Pakistan and Ukraine. Pakistan's investment minister recently assured the investors that they could export 100 percent of the harvest at any time, even if there were food shortages in Pakistan.

Al-Saud also wants to see small farmers in Saudi Arabia return to traditional agriculture and plant drought-resistant date palms, or grow profitable vegetable crops in greenhouses. "The price would have to cover the costs of desalinated seawater," he says, "because it's the only alternative to groundwater." In addition to that, irrigation systems need to become more efficient, he says, with the long-term goal of recycling every drop of water.

In the future, the Ministry plans to monitor water consumption on farms in real time. "If we incorporate this data into our new groundwater models," says Al-Saud, "we can use it to develop a comprehensive water strategy, which could also serve as a model for other countries."

The article also gives an example of how a farmer left wheat production and turned to dates and has been quite successful in doing that.

Randolf Rausch, German geologist working on the project, will present his research results to the Shoura Council soon. He plans to develop a computer model for the king's advisers that would calculate, for any location in the country, where the nearest aquifer is located, how large it is and where it makes the most sense to drill a well.

Of course among the valuable information on the project itself, there's always some commentary on the social and religious life of Saudi Arabia from a Western perspective/standard of what is right and wrong.