Over two-thirds of Egypt is covered by the Western Desert. Beginning at the west bank of the Nile the desert stretches west to Libya and south to Sudan, forming part of the vast expanse of the Sahara Desert that stretches across North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The desert is nearly always bone dry, but it is actually not lacking in water.

Occasional rains fill huge underground aquifers beneath the desert, which occasionally break through to the surface. Just like along the Nile, water is the key to life here and where the water break through the surface thriving oases have formed around the springs. These isolated gardens in the desert have long supported substantial communities of people and substantial agricultural development as well as a culture unique from that of the Nile Valley.
Known as the Western Desert The south of the Libyan Desert in Egypt has the most important supply of subterranean water in the world through the Nubian Aquifer, and the first inhabitants of the Egyptian  Oases had access to surface water sources.

The essential problem is that the Western Desert’s high saline levels and the presence of underground aquifers in the area act as a major obstacle to any irrigation project. As the land is irrigated, the salt would mix with the aquifers and would reduce access to potable water