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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Dead Sea plan raises environ hackles |
| 2013-08-27 |
| [OMANOBSERVER] A plan to link the Red Sea with the shrinking Dead Sea could save it from total evaporation and bring desalinated water to thirsty neighbours Israel, Jordan and the Paleostinians. But environmentalists warn that the "Red-Dead" project could have dire consequences, altering the unique chemistry of the landmark inland lake at the lowest point on earth. "What kinda consequences?" "Dire consequences." Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur said yesterday that his government had decided to press ahead with the $980-million project which would give the parched Hashemite kingdom 100 million cubic metres of water a year. "The government has approved the project after years of technical, political, economic and geological studies," Nsur told a news conference. Under the plan, Jordan will draw water from the Gulf of Aqaba at the northern end of the Red Sea to the nearby Risheh Height, where a desalination plant is to be built to treat water. "The desalinated water will go south to (the Jordanian town of) Aqaba, while salt water will be pumped to the Dead Sea," Nsur said. The Dead Sea, the world's saltiest body of water, is on course to dry out by 2050. It started shrinking in the 1960s when Israel, Jordan and Syria began to divert water from the Jordan River, the Dead Sea's main tributary. Israel and Jordan's use of evaporation ponds for extracting valuable minerals from its briny waters has only exacerbated the problem. With a coastline shared by Israel, the Paleostine and Jordan, the Dead Sea's surface level has been dropping at a rate of around a metre a year. According to the latest available data form Israel's hydrological service, on July 1, it stood at 427.13 metres below sea level, nearly 27 metres lower than in 1977. Under the plan most of the desalinated water would go to Jordan, with smaller quantities transferred to Israel and the Paleostinian Authority. But Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) and other environmental groups have called on the three partners to reject it on environmental grounds. The main concern, they say, is that a large influx of water from the Red Sea could radically change the Dead Sea's fragile ecosystem, forming gypsum crystals, and introducing red algae blooms. In addition, leakage from the pipeline could contaminate groundwater along its route through southern Israel's Arava Valley. So putting back what you take out is gonna ruin it? That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense of sort. Kinda. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Two years ago my wife and I went to Israel for a pilgrimage with our church. When we visited the Dead Sea, the guide said that the water level had been dropping due to "global warming". |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2013-08-27 17:36 |
| #5 "Everyone benefits." And that's what the "enviros"* hate the most, AP. *note the scare quotes; these clowns don't care about the environment - they just want control of everybody. And if a lot of people die, or suffer, they don't care, as long as it's not them. >:-( |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-08-27 17:13 |
| #4 3dc and I looked at this a while ago and did some napkin calcs. The project makes sense. The dead Sea has been environmentally damaged by years of excessive water withdraws from the Jordan River. Some more water would bring it back up to historical levels, hydro power would be produced, and would provide power for reverse osmosis salt removal, with the RO reject water going into the Dead Sea. Everyone benefits. Bacteria issues and their effects need to be studied, but they can be dealt with, despite the Dire Warnings™ from the so called environmentalists. It would be a great project. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2013-08-27 17:03 |
| #3 this $1B project is just the first phase of what could ultimately be about a $10B project this first phase would make up about 10 to 20 percent of the missing Jordan River flow enviros will undoubtly oppose this but the environmental benefits of restoring the Dead Sea to its Kennedy era level is surely many times whatever environmental damage would occur with the Red to Dead project |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-08-27 16:00 |
| #2 I read of a hydropower project set for the Dead sea, the idea was to use the river TO the dead sea, and allow it to go to the dead seat hrough turbines, (No exit needed, As the drop was 400 Plus feet, the hydro power available was tremendous) Now to eliminate the Muslims, and all is go. Looks good to me. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-08-27 12:24 |
| #1 just some more lawyers looking for shakedown money. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-08-27 01:23 |