10 countries in the world without any rivers

Historically, when looking at most areas, the majority of civilisations have depended on river systems to sustain agriculture and settlements, but there have been many places within the world that have lived without a flowing river nearby or close to them. Countries like the large desert regions that characterise the Arabian Peninsula and the low-lying coral Islands of the Maldives have grown and developed with a complete absence of perennial surface rivers, leading to those places as an environmental necessity for survival or infrastructure.

However, these innovative countries implemented innovative water-security strategies by using natural underground water supplies centuries prior to the adoption of current advanced systems, such as desalination and treated management systems. Seven different Countries have shown how technology can be adapted to provide resources in the driest and most remote geography, which has been achieved through advanced hydraulic engineering and integrated resource management. These creative engineering solutions effectively demonstrate how humanity secures life-sustaining water supplies within the world’s most arid environments.

Saudi Arabia, being the largest sovereign state that has no rivers, is highly dependent on ancient non-renewable groundwater and many large desalination plants to gather its water supply. The land is covered with ‘wadis,’ which are dry rivers that can carry sporadic periods of heavy rainfall, but lack a continuous stream of water to support the citizens of Saudi Arabia.

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There are no surface water sources in Bahrain; historically, it has depended on fresh water from submarine freshwater springs from aquifers under the seabed. Population growth has outpaced the natural supply of these springs, causing the springs to become saline. As a consequence, Bahrain is now heavily reliant on large-scale desalination and the reuse of treated wastewater to meet its domestic and agricultural water needs.

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Monaco is a microstate on the French Riviera without any rivers because of its very small size and the fact that it is a highly urbanised area of land on the coast. Because of the very small amount of land available in the principality, there is no capacity for it to develop a catchment area for maintaining water supply from a river system. To keep its water supplied, Monaco has an agreement with France to share water and has developed some very advanced technologies to manage and conserve its water.

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A desert with a very flat landscape where no river systems can form, Qatar is unable to provide its people with natural freshwater lakes or streams; thus, the country is totally dependent upon desalinating the seawater in its surrounding waters for its drinking water. Qatar has limited groundwater resources, which are heavily regulated to avoid depletion and to prevent saltwater from contaminating the fragile soil.

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Yemen is also dry and does not have any rivers or lakes. Similar to Oman, Yemen consists of a series of temporary riverbeds called wadis. The majority of the time, these wadis are dry; however, following seasonal rainfalls, they are capable of experiencing sudden and dangerous flash floods. There are no permanent surface water supplies supplying the country, so Yemen relies heavily on groundwater extraction from aquifers that are very deep beneath the surface of the earth. These water supplies are facing extreme challenges from overuse and demand, and there are not many ways to manage these water sources sustainably, as the country has little surface water infrastructure to do so.

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Oman is an extremely arid country that is mainly composed of desert and rocky mountains, which means that there are no permanent or year-round rivers there. Like other Arab countries, Oman is reliant on a series of temporary rivers called wadis that only carry water during large rainfalls. To solve this issue, Omani people invented an ancient way of gathering, using, and transporting water called falaj, in which farmers and communities divert water from underground aquifers found in the mountains to towns and crops. To meet the growing water demand, Oman has developed additional modern infrastructure for sourcing and managing freshwater. Furthermore, the country uses large-scale and technologically sophisticated desalination plants to provide additional freshwater supplies.

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The porous limestone geology of Malta prevents the formation of permanent rivers since rainwater can quickly penetrate the ground and does not create surface streams. The island relies instead on groundwater extraction, advanced desalination, and treated wastewater to provide sufficient water for the island's inhabitants while attempting to balance the limited water supply with the large seasonal demand driven by tourism.

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Kuwait does not have any permanent rivers, lakes or streams. Extreme thermal stress and minimal annual precipitation mean Kuwait lacks the geographical catchment capacity to store surface water. Therefore, Kuwait uses multiple phase flash distillation plants and reverse osmosis plants to provide enough seawater converted to freshwater for all of its citizens.

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An arid Arabian Peninsula country, the UAE has no permanent rivers providing water; thus, the UAE has developed into the leading country in the world for seawater desalination technologies to support the rapid urban growth and agriculture. There is some limited seasonal flooding in the wadis that provide moisture, but these limited rains do not provide water security for the citizens of the UAE, either long-term or short-term.

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The Maldives, as a low-lying archipelagic nation, lacks the elevation necessary for river formation. Its water supply is obtained through a layer of underground freshwater; this layer, called a ‘freshwater lens,’ floats on top of denser saltwater, which is found below the coral islands. These lenses are very delicate and can be polluted and/or adversely affected by sea level rise. Therefore, rainwater harvesting and desalination are needed to provide additional freshwater sources in the Maldives.

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