Will the Middle East run out of groundwater soon?

It is the invisible ingredient responsible for this year’s

, a country generally considered one of the most endangered by climate change and drought in the world.

It has also helped increase the number of Tunisia’s all-important date-palm oases, is keeping Yemen’s agriculture going despite war and ensures that Libya’s bustling coastal cities are supplied with water.

Groundwater — fresh water stored underneath the earth and accessed mostly by wells — has…