The government’s New Valley Project was designed to fully exploit this underground water for the irrigation and fertilization of the desert. A mass relocation of landless peasants from the Delta to the New Valley was also planned. Unfortunately, experts are now beginning to question the hypothesis that the underground water is recharged by seepage from the more humid parts of Africa. New estimates indicate that the supply could last only another 100 to 700 years and that it is not replenished yearly; instead, it is simply left over from 6000 to 12,000 years ago.

The fortunes of the people of the oases have ebbed and flowed with the water supply throughout Egyptian history. The Romans, with their waterwheels and aqueducts, were able to tap deeper water and push back the desert. The population burgeoned and prospered for approximately 300 years but over-irrigation and abandonment of fallow farming eventually hindered productivity. The oases slipped into a slow decline that lasted into the 1970s, when Anwar as-Sadat targeted the New Valley for development. The plans proved too ambitious and expensive, even though the new desert wells did open vast regions around the oases for cultivation. Government attention has meant radical change for those living in the oases, as new roads and other recently introduced conveniences funnel in Western culture.