Page 158 - Arabian Studies (I)

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now than they used to be, though there is insufficient meteorological
data that can verify this comment.
Perhaps the greatest effect of oil exploitation on man-environment
relationships has been in the field of water resources. In traditional
society, availability of water has governed the way of life of both
oasis dwellers and the nomadic pastoralists. Both exploration for oil
and the natural resource surveys, already referred to, have discovered
large new sources of underground water. This has been opportune, for
the establishment of large urban centres such as Dhahran, al-Khubar
and QatTf, as well as the vast expansion in both agricultural and
industrial sectors of the economy, has led to considerable pressure
on the water resources. The water that has been discovered, though,
is fossil water and, at QatTf, occurs in three aquifers at depths of
30-70 m., 90-130 m. and at 200-245 m. Ebert (1965) regards the
age of the oldest water in these aquifers as being at least 18,000
years, while deeper aquifers exploited in Eastern Province may
contain water as old as 35,000 years. Replenishment of these
aquifers is through rainfall on the hills and mountains of western
Saudi Arabia and is not as fast as extraction. Consequently supplies
have to be conserved.
Indiscriminate water well drilling has perhaps been the worst
offender in mismanagement of the water resources. Not all the
aquifers are of good quality water and improper well-drilling has
caused the pollution of some good aquifers by water of poor or
dubious quality from other aquifers. Within the last six years, the
Ministry of Agriculture and Water have carried out inventories of all
wells and those that are polluted have been ‘killed’. Replacement
wells, that are not polluted, have been drilled at Government
expense.
One way of increasing the water resources of the area is through
desalination of sea water. Water produced by such means is
expensive, but where economic returns justify it, desalinisation
plants can make a useful contribution to the water resources. One
such plant, having a capacity of 7.5 million gallons/day is nearing
completion at al-Khubar.
Wealth accruing from oil exploitation is also having an effect on
the social environment - housing, health, food, and education.
Change in food consumption, in turn, directly affects agriculture and
has, in fact, been responsible for the development of the flourishing
horticultural sector of the economy. Shea (1969), for instance, in a
survey of changing family consumption patterns of ARAMCO’s
Saudi Arab employees, found that over the period 1962-1968 the
proportion of employees living in houses constructed of cement