Article

2006-04-18 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

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Posted by Fred 2006-04-18 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The ecological situation is catastrophic.

Err! Nothing lives in the Dead Sea. Hence the name.

Ecology - The relationship between organisms and their environment.

Posted by phil_b">phil_b 2006-04-18 00:29|| http://autonomousoperation.blogspot.com/]">[http://autonomousoperation.blogspot.com/] 2006-04-18 00:29|| Front Page Top

#2 It could be fed by salt water as well as natural fresh water. It's way below sealevel so maybe a pipeline with a turbine-generator as a syphon tube from the gulf or med would be win-win?

Posted by 3dc 2006-04-18 00:45|| 2006-04-18 00:45|| Front Page Top

#3 Salton Sea CA - same issues - only Corvina thrive

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-04-18 00:50|| 2006-04-18 00:50|| Front Page Top

#4 Oy! Am I thirsty!

Posted by The Dead Sea 2006-04-18 00:55|| 2006-04-18 00:55|| Front Page Top

#5 here! have some salt and olives. That's what we're living on....

Posted by The Gaza Paleos">The Gaza Paleos 2006-04-18 01:00|| 2006-04-18 01:00|| Front Page Top

#6 here! have some salt and olives. That's what we're living on....

Sweet Capocollo, Teleme, Sourdough, peppers, Kalamata olives [greek], Chianti

Posted by RD 2006-04-18 04:40|| 2006-04-18 04:40|| Front Page Top

#7 Lake Powel same thing. Global warming.

That must be the reason the Danube is flooding at the highest level for a hundred years.

Posted by phil_b">phil_b 2006-04-18 06:20|| http://autonomousoperation.blogspot.com/]">[http://autonomousoperation.blogspot.com/] 2006-04-18 06:20|| Front Page Top

#8 All of Central Europe could stand to plant some more trees. Not building housing in flood zones would help, too. It isn't as though the Danube, and the other rivers in the region, never flooded before.

As for the Dead Sea, I think the ecological issue is the Jordan River waters being siphoned off far upstream for human use, resulting in the downstream areas suffering man-made drought. And yes, they are desert plants and animals -- or rather oasis plants and animals -- but without any water, they likely won't survive. However, it isn't likely that the Jordanians and the Palestinians are going to start conserving water any time soon, no matter how tightly the Israelis control their own take from the river.

I notice the original article only quotes Israelis. I suspect the Jordanians and the Palestinians have more pressing concerns at the moment, however self-generated, than the loss of a major tourist attraction. Nonetheless, the article says the World Bank is funding a study on the feasibility of piping in water from the Red Sea to replace what's been diverted... Looking at a map of the area, I think Israel could handle this on her own, without needing to wait for that mythical comprehensive peace.

Posted by trailing wife 2006-04-18 07:38|| 2006-04-18 07:38|| Front Page Top

#9 Hi, Ms. TW! Nice having you back!

Posted by anonymous5089 2006-04-18 07:41|| 2006-04-18 07:41|| Front Page Top

#10 Moreover, some ecologists are concerned that the canal project will cause more damage than good, upsetting the Dead Sea's delicate equilibrium by bringing salt water in to replace the depleted supply of fresh water.

Some 50 kilometres (30 miles) long by 17 kilometres wide at its broadest point, the Dead Sea's water level is 412 metres below the Mediterranean Sea and is famed as the saltiest body of water in the world, around 10 times more saline than the oceans.

The depths of ignorance of the environmental movement never ceases to amaze me. If the Dead Sea is 10 times saltier than seawater, the only difference between repleneshing with sea water or fresh water would be the environmentalist ego trip of demanding that a precious resource be allocated for nonhuman use.

Quite frankly, I would worry more about a pipeline between an ocean 412 meters higher than the Dead Sea. A terrorist sabotage could rather significantly increase the size of the Dead Sea.

Posted by Wholung Ebbomong7517 2006-04-18 08:23|| 2006-04-18 08:23|| Front Page Top

#11 It's not dead, It's sleepin!!

Posted by ARMYGUY 2006-04-18 08:25|| 2006-04-18 08:25|| Front Page Top

#12 Bonjour, a5089! Ca va?

Posted by trailing wife 2006-04-18 08:36|| 2006-04-18 08:36|| Front Page Top

#13 I've been telling this to people for years, since a little before Gulf War I.

We think fighting now is bad over oil, but our fresh water supply around the globe is being stretched further and further. Things will get really nasty when we start fighting over water, instead of oil.

The problem with the dead sea is not if fresh or salt water replenishes it. The problem is that everyone that can, is tapping the ground water in the area and it is lowering at an amazing rate. Enough to cuase visible indicators at the surface.

They are running out of water, and it is accelerating beyound control. Soon the rehtoric will shift from right to return to right to have water. Can't predict exactly when, but soon.

Dead sea is like a mine bird, gives a warning before it is really bad.

Posted by bombay">bombay 2006-04-18 08:50|| 2006-04-18 08:50|| Front Page Top

#14 bombay:

Maybe then, global warming's not such a bad thing. With something like 70% of the world's fresh water resources tied up at the poles (in ice), maybe we just build a huge pipeline from there to wherever needs water.

As an engineer, I know that (basically) water is like energy...it can neither be created nor destroyed, just change forms. So, basically the amount of total water hasn't changed in eons, it's just changed forms. Sadly, more and more of our water is being put into the oceans (a'la Wastewater plants in Calif, Florida and other coastal areas) as our coastal areas have boomed in population. Thus, these coastal areas may have to move (like the Middle East) to desal plants, but it can be done. I guess it's "true" that we're loosing freshwater resources, but not in the sense that they're forever gone...just changed forms. And, theoretically, if the earth is warming up, that leads to more evaporation, thus, more rainfall, and thus, replinishing of groundwater sources (again, in theory). We may, one day just have to suck it up and go desalinization all the way, but by then, it could be done, and probably fairly cheaply.

Posted by BA 2006-04-18 09:40|| 2006-04-18 09:40|| Front Page Top

#15 Hey, these morons worry about the Salton Sea drying up, too. And it was created by a "wiggle" of the Colorado river in 1905.

Whadda ya gonna do?

Posted by mojo">mojo 2006-04-18 10:30|| 2006-04-18 10:30|| Front Page Top

#16 Dead sea is easily fixed.

Series of hydro-electric dams, from the arabian gulf inward. Too big for terrorism to do the job, and that much of a head for the generators would generate a hell of a lot of electrical power. Probably enough to run desalinization plants at every one of them that could supply huge amounts of fresh water to the region.

Win-Win, for Israel and Jordan, and possibly Egypt too - that is, if the Paleo-stenians were not in the way (or if they woudl act responsibly instead of radcializing themselves into extenction at the behest of Iran and its proxies, Syria & Hamas)

Posted by OldSpook 2006-04-18 11:30|| 2006-04-18 11:30|| Front Page Top

#17 Serious water issue for Israel in the West Bank. Israeli's developed all the water resources in the WB and depends heavily upon them. They will and should do all in their power to maintain control of that water. The Paleo's want all of the West Bank including the water resources to use as leverage against Israel.

Posted by DonM 2006-04-18 12:02|| 2006-04-18 12:02|| Front Page Top

#18 Follow-up on OldSpook's idea: draw the water from the Gulf of Aqaba and the Israeli port town of Eilat. Make it an all-Israeli project. Whatever electricity generated runs however much desalination that can be done, the water to be used in Israel's Negev desert.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2006-04-18 17:09|| 2006-04-18 17:09|| Front Page Top

#19 It could be fed by salt water as well as natural fresh water. It's way below sealevel so maybe a pipeline with a turbine-generator as a syphon tube from the gulf or med would be win-win?

As I understand it the Israelis have looked into this. Another area where this is a possibilty is the Qattar Depression in Egypt

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701515849/Qattara_Depression.html

Posted by Cheaderhead 2006-04-18 17:37|| 2006-04-18 17:37|| Front Page Top

#20 Egyptians have been thinking of making it into a low lake for decades. The power generation possibilites are incredible, as are the increas in aerable land.

Posted by OldSpook 2006-04-18 18:40|| 2006-04-18 18:40|| Front Page Top

#21 Phil_b, look up Halobacterium.

Posted by gromgoru 2006-04-18 20:42|| 2006-04-18 20:42|| Front Page Top

#22 BA:

Actually, water is being created and destroyed all the time, in most life on the planet.

Water is the starting, and/or ending place for many of the cellular reactions.

Most cells are very good at 'splitting' the water molecule and assembling it at will. They make very good use of E=MC squared.

There is a 'range' in the suitability of water for this. Too hot, too cold, too acidic, too poluted, etc and it just won't work out.

You make a good point about water changing forms over the eons (gas, liquid, ice, etc). But in the short term, for cellular based life on the planet, it has to be in that range NOW.

Certain regions are water limited and when things get out of hand it will be in a major way.

Given the explosive nature of the region, it is almost a given, once they figure it out that is.

There are massive implications to the 'draining' of the area. Once the palestinians figure things out it will be a major mess, bigger than it is now.

When the issues switch from demands for non-necessary things like borders or land to required things like water, it will get really messy. Far more regional justification to wipe them out, and it will play well on the rest of the region 'Occupation was one thing, but, survival!'.

Obviously the answer is to run combustion engines 24 hours a day and collect the water resulting, lol.

Posted by bombay">bombay 2006-04-18 21:27|| 2006-04-18 21:27|| Front Page Top

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