Nahal Paran ( he, נחל פארן, , Paran Stream) is a seasonal stream in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's Negev Desert. With a length of 150 kilometers, it is the third largest

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams a ...

after the Jordan River and

Yarmouk River The Yarmuk River ( ar, نهر اليرموك, translit=Nahr al-Yarmūk, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; la, Hieromyces or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk), is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel ...

. It is also the widest watercourse in Israel. The association of the name "Paran Stream" with this specific

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

is a modern one. Israeli authorities have introduced the name "Paran Stream" by adopting it from the Paran Desert mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

of Nahal HaArava. Water flow exists only during flash floods. This is the drainage basin's largest river, with an area of thousands of square kilometers, creating broad planes that separate the Negev's high north and the

Eilat mountains The Eilat Mountains ( he, הרי אילת ''Harei Eilat'') are a mountain range within the southern Negev in southern Israel. The ranges of the Timna Valley belong to the Eilat Mountains. Among the central block of mountains, Mount Hezekiah is the ...

of the south. In the past, during floods, like other major rivers in the Negev, Nahal paran would flood the Arava Road (the main road to Eilat), until the construction of a bridge over the river. The stream had the highest recorded flow in Israel of 1,150 cubic meters per second on 6 November 1970. In 2014, the record was broken by a flow of 1,280 cubic meters per second measured at Zin. For comparison, the average flow in the Jordan River is 16 cubic meters per second. Ground water near the riverbed provides drinking water for communities in the

Arava desert The Arabah, Araba or Aravah ( he, הָעֲרָבָה, ''hāʿĂrāḇā''; ar, وادي عربة, ''Wādī ʿAraba''; lit. "desolate and dry area") is a loosely defined geographic area south of the Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the borde ...

. This water has high salinity and undergoes desalination.

References

Rivers of Israel {{Israel-river-stub