Irrigation Circles, Wadi Dawasir, Saudi Arabia - George Steinmetz - Empty Quarter (sitios de interés)

Irrigation Circles, Wadi Dawasir, Saudi Arabia

Center-pivot irrigation circles growing alfalfa (animal fodder) reach to the horizon near Wadi Dawasir at the edge of the Empty Quarter. Each crop circle is about 1Km in diameter and sprays water and fertilizer onto barren land to make it bloom. Irrigation water comes from wells 100-200M deep and is “fossil water” that fell as rain thousands of years ago. Wells here start as artesian flow with high sulfur content, but soon has to be pumped to the surface. After some twenty years, the water drops to a level that is no longer economic and the fields are abandoned. Crops are only viable here for four months a year, but fields need to be irrigated year-round to stop salt from building up on the surface. The fields need 10,000 cuM water/hectare each year.