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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| the dead dead sea. Its Israel's fault ignoring the Friends of Earth stupidity |
| 2006-10-29 |
| As the Dead Sea slowly shrinks towards extinction, fears are growing that the saltiest body of water on earth will not disappear without taking a few lives along with it. The Dead Sea has fallen more than 20 meters over the past 40 years. Studies by scientists at the University of Jordan have shown that the sea now drops one meter in depth each year. The water level has declined faster than ever since Israel took control of the water resources that feed the Jordan River after occupying the West Bank after the 1967 Arab/Israel war. "For at least 30 years, Israel diverted most of the Jordan River tributaries and controlled water coming from Tiberias Lake [the Sea of Galilee] in a way that the river level was heavily effected," said Najib Abu Karaki, head of the geology department at the University of Jordan. ... The industrial use of the sea has also been blamed for the shrinking water levels. The Southern basin of the Dead Sea was converted to shallow salting lakes (evaporation ponds) -- a total surface area of approximately 255 square kilometers. Water is pumped from the Northern Dead Sea Basin to the Salting lakes to extract minerals such as potassium, magnesium and many others. The evaporation ponds are responsible for 25 percent to 30 percent of the total evaporation of Dead Sea waters. There may be a glimmer of hope. Officials and scientists have been upbeat about a proposed project to inject life into the Dead Sea by linking it with a canal to either the Red Sea, in the south, or the Mediterranean sea, in the west. The multi-billion-dollar project, which was proposed when Jordan and Israel signed their peace treaty in 1994, could help Jordan put an end to its chronic water shortage and return the Dead Sea to its normal level. However, environmentalists are concerned the project could bring other problems to the region. "The canal could cause a massive disruption of natural landscapes, transport saline seawater over areas containing freshwater aquifers, and disturb the natural qualities of the sea," said Ahmed Abdul Rahman, Dead Red project manager at Friends of the Earth. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #4 Just don't go swimming on it (not in it—on it) if you have any abrasions or chafing, OP. You'll end up running in pain to get it washed off with fresh water, and there isn't much of that around. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2006-10-29 23:05 |
| #3 Old Patriot - Note that FOE is blocking it. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-10-29 22:47 |
| #2 Just build a 48-inch pipeline and a pumping station in Eilat. The Dead Sea is the main source of supply for 40% of Israel's chemical industry. I'm not sure if Jordan uses it for anything. It's also a highly-prized vacation site. Guaranteeing its future should be seen as a life-insurance policy for both chemical and tourist industries. (The Med is closer, but you've got to go quite a way uphill, and then downhill again. Takes far more energy than pumping salt water up from the Red Sea.) |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-10-29 22:23 |
| #1 At one time there was a proposal for a tunnel to be bored from the coast to the Dead Sea for the purpose of generating Hydro-Electric power. Similiar propsals have been put forth for the Qattara Depression in Egypt |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2006-10-29 21:54 |