At a time when people are being urged to conserve water in a desert country known for its meager water resources, some are trying to shift the blame to others.
Last week, Crown Prince Abdullah appealed to Saudi citizens and expatriates to conserve water in the Kingdom that depends heavily on desalinated water to meet the growing demands.
We all know that the agricultural sector consumes very large quantities of our meager water resources but Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahd Balghunaim has a different viewpoint, saying that the agricultural sector should not be blamed.
According to a statement from the minister, the do-nothings and the pessimists have only one thing to talk about — that agriculture is depleting the country’s water supply and that the state spends billions of riyals producing wheat that could be imported for a fraction of the cost of growing it.
The minister was quoted, “They keep asking why we should grow wheat and why we don’t import it — as if there were no other issue to talk about. It is as if nothing positive is associated with the agricultural sector and the sector is doing nothing but wasting water and money.”
I have no intention of getting involved in a confrontation with the minister. All I want is for readers to see the contradiction: A country trying to live with meager water resources and a ministry that encourages agricultural projects which consume vast quantities of water.
I wish the minister, with the help of his colleague the minister of water, would provide us with a map of our water resources. It would be good to know what the situation really is. Is it true that we do indeed have enough reserves to satisfy agricultural demands? Is there still plenty of water under the sands of our deserts?
I wonder if we are not embarking on a course that may lead us straight into further drought.
The crown prince said our water resources were not renewable — which means that what is lost is not replaceable. Is the minister in possession of studies that prove our underground water resources are indeed renewable and thus the amounts used will be replaced? Your Excellency, our country should not seek to satisfy agricultural producers, investors and international businessmen at the expense of its meager water resources. This does not mean that we should stop developing our agricultural sector but rather that this development must come through new and less expensive techniques. We still remember how the sands of An-Nufud and Dahna were transformed into giant wheat farms with machines pumping water from depths of 2,500 meters and more.
