Geography
Saudi Arabia is a West Asian country with a total area of about 2.15 MSq.Km. Saudi Arabia is bounded by Jordan in the north; Iraq and Kuwait in the east; Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the Persian Gulf in the southeast; Oman and Yemen in the south; and the Red Sea in the west. Saudi Arabia is located between latitudes 16° and 33° N, and longitudes 34° and 56°E. Saudi Arabia is the 12th largest country in the world in terms of area of the country. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba. It is the only country with the Red Sea coast in the west and the Persian Gulf in the southeast. Most of its terrain consists of arid deserts, lowlands, and mountains.

Population and land use
The population of Saudi Arabia was about 34 Million in mid-2019, according to the Population Reference Bureau. Saudi Arabia ranks 41st among the most populous countries of the world, and the density of the population is 16 inhabitants per Sq.Km. About 84% of the population is urban. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula. About 65% of its landscape comprises deserts. Out of the total area of Saudi Arabia, about 80% of the land is agricultural land, and 0.5% of the land is under forest cover. Saudi Arabia has 1.5% arable land; 0.1% permanent crops, and 79.1% permanent pasture.

Climate and rainfall
Except for the province of Asir on the western coast, Saudi Arabia has a desert climate characterized by extreme heat during the day and a drop in night temperatures. The average summer temperature is about 45°C. However, temperature may go up to 54°C. Saudi Arabia is mostly a dry country with low annual precipitation. However, rainfall varies over space and time, and the amounts of rain over different regions of Saudi Arabia are diverse. Besides spatial differences, interannual variations of precipitation also occur. In Saudi Arabia, renewable water resources are limited, and the annual rainfall is less than 150 mm in most of the country except for the southwestern region.

Food and agriculture
Major agricultural development in Saudi Arabia began in the 1970s. The government introduced extensive schemes to encourage agricultural research and training with the idea of promoting modern farming technology. It constructed roads in the rural area, irrigation networks, and storage facilities in the interest of agricultural development. Saudi Arabia is self-reliant in many foodgrains. The agricultural products of Saudi Arabia are wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, olive, tomatoes, melons, dates, citrus fruits, etc. Prime constraints on cultivation include inadequate water supply and poor soil conditions. Agriculture has witnessed a significant expansion in irrigated areas. Saudi Arabia’s most dramatic agricultural accomplishment was its rapid transformation from importer to exporter of wheat. The initiative of Saudi Arabia to grow more wheat that began ln 1978 brought quick results. By 1984, Saudi Arabia became self-sufficient in wheat. Soon, Saudi Arabia started exporting wheat to nearly 30 countries. The average yield of wheat reached 3.6 tons per acre. However, in the interest of preserving precious water resources, domestic production of wheat was reduced considerably in 2016. Saudi Arabia’s well-watered southwest produces tropical fruits, including pineapples, paw-paws, bananas, mangoes, and guavas. The olive tree is indigenous to Saudi Arabia.

Irrigation and drainage
In Saudi Arabia, center pivot irrigation is prevalent in many irrigation projects in the arid and hyper-arid regions. Non-renewable fossil water is mined from depths as deep as 1 Km (3,000 ft), pumped to the surface, and distributed through center pivot irrigation system. A study by Science Directorate shows that the quality of the drainage water is highly saline and is not suitable for irrigation. However, the quality of water met the standards of the Meteorology and Environmental Protection Agency for discharge into the Red Sea. The total area under irrigation in Saudi Arabia is 1.62 Mha, out of which 0.72 Mha is under sprinkler irrigation, and 0.2 Mha is under micro-irrigation. The total area drained is about 0.04 Mha. Substantial resources of subterranean water have been discovered in the central and eastern parts of the country and are being exploited for agriculture. However, these underground aquifers are difficult to renew.

Water resources management
Saudi Arabia is an arid country with minimal water resources. It is the largest country in the world without a river or a lake. This situation puts tremendous pressure on Saudi Arabia to use its limited water resources conservatively. Saudi Arabia depends on two sources of water: groundwater and the water from desalination plants that remove salt from seawater. But the desalination process is extremely energy-intensive and expensive. Groundwater is the primary source of water, accounting for nearly 98% of water sources in Saudi Arabia. Groundwater is stored in six major consolidated sedimentary aquifers of antiquity. The fossil groundwater, formed 20,000 years ago, is trapped in sand and limestone formations. The fossil aquifers contain large quantities of water trapped in fissures. In 2004, there were approximately 223 dams of various sizes with a total storage capacity of 835.6 Mm3. Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of desalinated water from the sea. In 2004 there were 30 desalination and power plants.

Water policies
In an arid country like Saudi Arabia with no perennial rivers, groundwater is the primary source of water. It is imperative to distribute the available water sensibly and rationally to ensure that agriculture gets a fair share in the disbursement of water resources in the country. Current policies, however, do not sufficiently monitor the use of groundwater supplies even when the withdrawals are far more than the natural recharge capacity of the region. Policies unwittingly encourage groundwater withdrawals for agriculture, even as the country spends millions on desalination plants to augment municipal and industrial water supplies. Similarly, systems that provide expensive desalinated seawater to municipalities at highly subsidized rates encourages the misuse of the resource. Policy-makers in the Ministry of Planning (MOP) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water (MAW) are waking up to the adverse effects of overdrawing the groundwater as it depletes the aquifers endangering the future of water security for Saudi Arabia.

ICID and National Committee
Saudi Arabia joined the ICID in 1977 and formed the Saudi Arabian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (SACID). SACID has nominated Mr. Bahaa K. Helmy as its nodal person to actively engage in the activities of the committee and support ICID to carry forward its vision and missios.