Water In The Sahara Desert. Access to safe water and sanitation and sound management of freshwater ecosystems are essential to human health and to environmental sustainability and economic prosperity. The sahara is the world's largest hot desert and one of the harshest environments on the planet.

Although water sources are quite rare throughout the entire desert region, there are 2 large rivers and about 20 seasonal lakes and aquifers in the sahara desert. The only permanent river in the desert is the nile river that flows from central africa to the mediterranean sea. The nile and niger rivers, both fed by rains outside the desert, are the only permanent rivers in the region.