Efqa Spring

Efqa Spring (Arabic: إفقا) is an ancient artesian spring in the Syrian Desert that was first developed between 4000 BCE and 2000 BCE. Once upon a time the spring fed a natural stream that drained eastward into a brackish wetland. The ancient city of Palmyra developed around the oasis created by the spring water. Efqa comes from the Aramaic word meaning source.

The spring emerges on the west side of modern Tadmur, "opposite the modern building of the Cham Palace hotel, situated on the road to Damascus beyond the ruins of the ancient city." The spring flows out of the limestone inside al-Mintar Mountain via nine hand-dug wells that feed into a 400-meter-long cave, or underground irrigation channel, known as a qanat. A recent restoration project sought to undo some of the damage done by ISIS attacks in the area. The spring went dry in 1994, due to a combination of drought, over pumping, and neglect, but has been rehabilitated as the result of a joint Syrian–Russian restoration project and is flowing again as of 2019. Water from the spring is channeled into the 420 hectares (1,000 acres) of date palm and olive orchards surrounding the spring.