in the middle of an empty [...] desert.

But there's the thing: It's all desert. And people still need to eat. They're using groundwater, here, and it was adequate. Decisions taken in that time period were good decisions.

Now it's changing. And just like California Almond farmers need to seriously switch to a crop that isn't at the heart of the water wars, Saudis need to switch to methods and crops that use miniscule amounts of water.