Abzu

Abzu was Enki's gold-mining domain in southeast Africa.

Symantecs
Abzu (: ZU.AB; Sumerian: abzu) lit. ab='water' zu='deep', the etymology of “abyss”; was the name for fresh water from underground s.

Mythology
Abzu was given a religious fertilising quality in Sumerian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the abzu—the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth (Ma) above. Enki (E.A) was believed to have lived in the abzu since before human beings were created, along with his wife Damgalnuna, his mother Nammu, his advisor Isimud and a variety of subservient creatures, such as the gatekeeper Lahmu, also lived in the abzu.

Abzu (apsû) was later depicted as a deity only known from the Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Elish, taken from the library of  c. 630 BCE (but which is about 500 years older). In this story, he was a primal being made of fresh water and the lover to Tiamat, a primeval deity of salt water.

Washing pools
In Eridu, Enki's temple was known as E2-abzu (house of the cosmic waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp, an abzu. Washing pools were developed for religious washing that drew from the local abzu. Later Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards also maintained these pools, they called apsû.