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Bahrain


The Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in the Middle East. It is located in the Persian Gulf, in a bay enclosed by Saudi Arabia and the Quatar peninsula. It is a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands. The main island is connected to Al Khoba in Saudi Arabia by a bridge.

Bahrain is an Arabic word which means two seas. The reason is sweet water beneath the salty water of the gulf. The water originates from submarine karst springs. Those had a paramount religious significance. It was believed that the sacred sweet-sea-beneath-theworld “absu” broke through the surface in Bahrain forming its bountiful sweet water springs. It is transported by underground irrigation systems, which are called quanats.

The most important aquifer of the main island is the Dammam aquifer. It is used for drinking water and for irrigation, but over-abstraction has led to its salinization by adjacent brackish and saline water bodies.