The Dead Sea is Dying

In other parts of the world, a glass of clean water is often a luxury. Consider, for example, the area of the Dead Sea, located in the southeastern part of Israel. It is one of the most unique places on earth. First it is 1385 feet below sea level, the lowest place on the surface of the earth. Being the lowest, water cannot flow out of it and, thus, only evaporation allows water to escape, leaving behind all the solids dissolved in the water that flows in from the Jordan River. It is Israel's and Jordan's mineral and salt waste deposit.

Secondly, at 8.6 times saltier than the oceans, the Dead Sea is second saltiest body of water on earth. To hold this record, it is a 33.7% salt solution. Deeper water is saltier so 300 feet down the salt precipitates to the bottom. Third, at 42 feet long, 11 miles wide, and 1240 feet deep, it is the deepest salt lake in the world.

Vast stores of potash, bromine, caustic soda, magnesium, and sodium chloride have been left by the evaporating water over the last several thousand years. One estimate is that the Dead Sea area holds more than two trillion dollars worth of fertilizer compounds (presently 1.9 billion tons of potash). The characteristics that make the Sea dead have certainly contributed to giving the country life.

The serious problem that has arisen, however, is that water level in the Dead Sea is dropping, presently at three feet a year. The level has dropped 72 feet since 1970. What are the reasons for this? First of all, very little rain falls in the area. The northern part of the Dead Sea gets less than 4 inches of rain a year, while the southern part only gets about two inches. Also, manufacturing in the northern part of the country, and irrigation take away 90% of the normal amount of water flowing through the Jordan River.

Some believe the salts in the Sea have therapeutic value and, for this reason, they are taken out of the Dead Sea and sold. Desalination plants in the southern area extract these salts and also provide fresh, clean wate. This loss of water has actually lowered the water table in the country, and this affects the ability of the land to provide enough water for the citizens and, therefore, increases the need to take water from the Jordan.

Of course this water level drop affects the entire country. For example, this drop has caused the Dead Sea to actually change shape. The bottom third of the Sea was always very shallow compared with the rest. Perhaps the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose infamy is told in the Old Testament book of Genesis, were located in this area. But with the water level dropping, this southern area is drying up and is now the Lisan Peninsula (Arabic for "tongue" because of its shape) has completely separated the northern and southern parts of the Sea.

The Dead Sea has been a great tourist attraction for centuries, and this drop in its level may have an effect on this. But the Dead Sea is, frankly, a healthy place to be, for it has a low level of allergens, increased air pressure, decreased ultra-violet solar radiation, and high levels of oxygen.

Presently Jordan and Israel are considering a joint project called the "Two Seas Canal". It would pump salt water from the Aqaba region of the Red Sea 125 miles over the hills to the Dead Sea. Desalination and power plants on the Jordanian side of the Sea would produce both hydroelectricity as the pumped water falls into the Sea, and 850 million cubic meters of fresh water a year.

A glass of fresh, clean water is surely something people in the west take for granted. Other nations must go to great trouble to provide it for their people, and often must limit its use so there is enough. Though even our dependable sources of water are threatened, wise stewardship will hopefully continue to permit us to enjoy this life-giving liquid for years to come