Should intensive use of non-renewable groundwater resources always be rejected?

The conventional understanding that the sustainability of groundwater resources does not allow them to be used with levels exceeding natural replenishment seems unrealistic in arid regions. An example is Saudi Arabia, which witnessed, in 1975, a major threshold increase in its oil revenues by about twenty to forty times. The use of about 19% of the stored non-renewable groundwater resources in the upper 300 m below ground levels for irrigated agriculture, between 1975 and 2000, has enabled the country to support major socio-economic developments in rural areas. About US$ 25,000 million were spent as free of interest loans and price support for wheat production during that period. This has helped the rural population and nomads to be converted into skilled agricultural communities in prosperous villages and towns with effective public services. These communities have provided valuable support to food production and to the security of the country in remote areas. The Kingdom has been dynamic in changing the agricultural policies to minimise negative impacts on aquifers. The above experience indicates that, the carefully planned intensive use of non-renewable groundwater resources for socio-economic developments, during a limited number of years, should not be always rejected.