Last update - 00:00 25/10/2006
Holes in Dead Sea shores endanger Route 90
By Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
Route 90 along the shores of the Dead Sea is in danger of collapse because of the large number of holes that have suddenly formed near Mitzpeh Shalem.
The environmental organization Friends of the Earth Middle East on Tuesday sent an urgent appeal to the Transportation Ministry to send experts to examine the situation.
The Regional Council Megilot also reported that there were new holes at a mere distance of 25 meters from the road. "We found two holes about two weeks ago," said Uriel Aharonov, the regional council engineer. "The largest is about seven meters deep and seven meters wide. We appealed several times in the past few months to the Transportation Ministry ... but have not heard from them."
A survey published recently by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and the Environment and Infrastructure ministries revealed that hundreds of similar holes had formed over the past years near the Dead Sea and that the process was ongoing. There is no prior indication of the
formation of a hole and its sudden appearance could be disastrous to vehicles.
The appearance of the holes is directly connected with the continuous lowering of the level of water in the Dead Sea. At present, the water level is sinking by about one meter per year. This causes sweet ground water to dissolve the lumps of salt that have formed along the shore
where the water has receded. When the salt dissolves, the ground goes with it, forming a sudden hole. In the vicinity of Ein Gedi, a side road has already been shut and a parking lot has had to be abandoned because of the holes.
Friends of the Earth called on the government to restore the water to the Dead Sea by renewing the flow of the Jordan River into it.