Is the Dead Sea dying?
Water loss continues at record rate :
The Dead Sea is shrinking at a record rate, prompting calls for
Israel and Jordan to stop fertiliser makers from siphoning so much of
the water whose restorative powers have attracted visitors since
biblical times.
The salty inland lake bordering the nations dropped a record 1.5
metres (4.9 feet) over the past 12 months because of industry use and
evaporation, the Hydrological Service of Israel said. That's the
steepest Dead Sea decline since data-keeping started in the 1950s.
"This is unacceptable and speaks to the urgency of the need to force
industry to change their extraction process," Bromberg said in an
interview from Tel Aviv.
The makers of potash, a raw material for fertiliser, are competing
for water with a centuries-old tourism industry on the Dead Sea,
Israel's most crowded leisure destination last year with 857,000
visitors.
That's more packed than Tel Aviv and Eilat's beach resorts, the
Tourism Ministry said. It isn't only pumping causing the degradation of
the Dead Sea, a biblical refuge for King David. Agriculture diverts
water for crops from the Jordan River that feeds into the Dead Sea,
adding to a decline that's created potentially life-threatening
sinkholes by the shore.
On the north shore of the Dead Sea, 75 kilometres (47 miles) long 50
years ago and 55 kilometres now according to the environmental group,
spas offer the medicinal benefits of mud baths and mineral springs.
Those wanting to bob in waters about 10 times as salty as the ocean
must either ride in a cart for several minutes or take a hike that's a
little longer.
Dead Sea Works, owned by Israel Chemicals, denied any increased
pumping, saying it has used 150 million to 170 million cubic meters a
year from the sea for two decades.
"The main reason for the declining sea level is the increased use of
the water that flows to the Dead Sea in the past, especially from the
Jordan River, by all countries in the region," the company said in an
emailed statement.
It's already paying to use Dead Sea water through royalties that it
said have doubled since the beginning of the year, Dead Sea Works said.
Israel Chemicals agreed in December that royalty payments on potash
production above certain levels would double to 10 percent.
"Charging the Dead Sea Works per water usage by cubic metre will not
affect the pumping volume since the amount of pumping is a function of
the evaporation ponds' surface area and changing climate conditions
alone," it said.
"We're keen on doing all possible to preserve the Dead Sea, which is
shrinking annually," Issa Shboul, spokesperson of Jordan's Ministry of
Environment, said by phone.
"We regularly request the potash companies and other companies that
benefit from the Dead Sea water for their business to adopt the latest
technological advances to reduce the negative impact on the Dead Sea
level," Shboul said.Jordan and Israel should reinvigorate a joint
committee that hasn't met for more than a decade to work on developing
extraction techniques that use less water, Bromberg said.
Israel's Environment Ministry said it's working on a proposal with
the government that examines the use of all resources, including
phosphates and mineral water.Israel allocated 850 million shekels ($223
million) this year to rehabilitate and develop the Dead Sea's tourism
potential. Spencer Tunick's group photograph in 2011 of naked people at
a beach raised awareness of sinkholes and shrinking shores of the lowest
place on Earth at 414 metres below sea level.
About one-third of the Dead Sea's surface area has disappeared and
sinkholes are increasingly common as the waters shrink amid drought,
agricultural diversion, largely from the Jordan River, and pumping to
extract minerals for fertiliser. Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli
policymakers, under the auspices of the World Bank, have been examining
various plans to halt the Dead Sea's decline.
These include two tunnels and a pipeline that may cost as much as $10
billion. These would transfer water about 110 miles from the Red Sea and
brine from desalination plants to keep Dead Sea levels stable.
Preliminary reports from the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study
Program have shown that mixing sea water, desalination brine or both
with Dead Sea water entails risks, especially when amounts exceed 300
million cubic metres a year.
The Dead Sea has a current annual deficit of 700 million cubic
metres, Bromberg said. The risks include gypsum and other microorganism
growth caused by mixing different types of water.
Major parts of the study are expected to be completed and posted
online by the end of the month, according to an official with knowledge
of the report. These include drafts of final reports on alternatives,
feasibility and environmental assessments. More can be done to stop the
deterioration to an area home to rare wildlife including leopards, ibex
and the griffon vulture, Bromberg said.
"We are calling on Jordan and Israel to introduce legislation that
would require Dead Sea waters to have a price, with pumping rates and
licensed, monitored metres," he said. "All other sources of water are
extracted under licence."
The beach photographed by Tunick meanwhile has changed beyond
recognition in a year with salt-encrusted rocks more common now as the
Dead Sea waters recede, environmentalists say.
- The Independent
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