Water Resources
See also: Geography of Saudi Arabia#Water resourcesSaudi Arabia is one of the driest regions in the world, with no perennial rivers. Water is obtained from four distinct sources:
- non-renewable groundwater from the deep fossil aquifers
- desalinated water
- surface water
- renewable groundwater from shallow alluvial aquifers
Only the last two sources are renewable. Their volume, however, is minimal. Desalination plants provide about half the country’s drinking water. About 40% comes from groundwater. The remainder comes from surface water (about 10%). Desalinated water is prevalent along the coasts, surface water in the southwest region and groundwater elsewhere. The capital Riyadh, however, is supplied to a great extent with desalinated water pumped from the Persian Gulf over 467 km to the city located in the heart of the country.
Read more about this topic: Water Supply And Sanitation In Saudi Arabia
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