Report: Dead Sea losing water more rapidly
Official figures show level dropped more quickly in past two years than the average for the past decade.
By Zafrir Rinat Tags: Dead Sea Israel newsThe Dead Sea has dropped more quickly in the past two years than the average for the past decade, according to Water Authority figures released this week.
The average for 1998-2008 was 98 centimeters a year, but last year the drop was 138 centimeters and this year it has already dropped 113 centimeters.
The drop, due to increased use of water feeding into the sea, has led to the weakening of streambeds, which threatens roads and other infrastructure.
In the Tze'elim stream, the Dead Sea Works on the southern Dead Sea, has proposed building a feeder pool to slow down the loss.
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Israel leads the world in desalination technology but very little installed here - mostly in other countries. If Israel built the proposed Dead sea - Mediterranean Sea canal, this would replenish the dead sea and provide electricity for desalination for drinking/agri water. The actual water from the Dead Sea cannot be used for crops - too salty. It has dropped from lower input from Jordan River and other tributaries from the country of Jordan. Israel also uses water for crops very efficiently - invented drip irrigation and uses much "grey water."
Wouldn't it be simpler and cheaper to just stop wasting water growing crops which need a lot of water and never should have been grown in a semi-arid region anyway?
What are these people in gov't waiting for??????
We have some serious problems with big artificial lakes in Germany. The pressure and counterpressure of banks/water are giving headaches to the limit. Houses vanished and people died this year. Could the pressure of the desert rocks cause earthquakes in that anyway critical Jordan rim when the counterpressure of the water is decreasing day by day? Just a question...
We should look into potential solutions that turn the Dead Sea into fresh water. Sound too grand of an idea? I'm sure the Panama Canal did too when it was first proposed, but consider the positive ramifications of success for Israel, for Jordan, and for the rest of the region.