Dead Sea could vanish by 2050

[Neo]

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Monday, May 14, 2007


ENVIRONMENT:
Dead Sea could vanish by 2050

Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians are slowly pushing through the tangle of their disputes and suspicions in a race to save a biblical and ecological treasure, the Dead Sea which may vanish by 2050 if nothing is done.

The famously salty sea, which lies at Earth’s lowest point, is shrinking. It has receded by some three feet a year for the past 25 years, and Jordan and Israel warn that if the trend continues, it will vanish by 2050 along with its unique ecosystem, defeated by river diversions, mineral extraction and natural reasons, like evaporation.

A crucial project to boost the water level by piping in water from the Red Sea has long been held up by disputes between Israel and its Palestinian and Jordanian neighbors.

“But the ball began to roll a few months ago because of the gravity of the situation and the dangers facing the Dead Sea, which is a unique heritage not only to the countries that border it but to the whole world,� said Mohammed Thafer al-Alem, Jordan’s water minister.

The urgency is made clear by a dramatic side effect of the dwindling water: sinkholes.

These yawn open in a flash, leaving pits 100 feet deep or more in the sponge-like terrain. At Ghor Haditha, a Jordanian village of 6,000 people on the Dead Sea’s southern tip, signs warn of the peril and huge holes *** the vegetable fields.

With renewed Jordanian prodding to resurrect the project, a compromise was reached to include Palestinian moderates on a committee overseeing the project.

The feasibility study finally began this year, with 60 percent of its $15.5 million cost provided by the United States and other Western donors. The pipeline itself will cost $1 billion and take two years to complete, if funding can be found.

There are also plans for a $1.5 billion plant to desalinate Red Sea waters for use by Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians.

“The Red-Dead project is very significant to Israel because the surrounding area is water-poor and in 10 or 15 years, there will be no water there,� except whatever is piped in for drinking water, said Israeli Foreign Ministry official Jacob Keidar, referring to groundwater wells in the nearby Jordan Valley area. He spoke in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.

Al-Alem, the Jordanian water minister, said the shrinkage was “more catastrophic� than that of the Aral Sea in Central Asia.

The Aral, once the world’s fourth largest inland water body, has lost three quarters of its surface area in less than half a century because of Soviet-era diversion of rivers to promote farming.

“The Dead Sea is a worse disaster than the Aral because it’s shrinking quicker and the catastrophe it poses is greater to the surrounding ecosystem, the economy from its minerals and the site as a world cultural and religious heritage,� al-Alem said. ap

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-5-2007_pg6_18

[dabong1]

The Lake of Lut, or the Dead Sea as it is otherwise known, is located right on the top of an active seismic region, that is, an earthquake zone:


The 82nd verse of Surah Hud, clearly states the kind of disaster that befell the people of Lut. “When Our Decree issued, We turned (the cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay, spread, layer on layer�

http://harun-yahya.cnrglab.itb.ac.id/pernat13.html

[Neo]

The Lake of Lut, or the Dead Sea as it is otherwise known, is located right on the top of an active seismic region, that is, an earthquake zone:

Seismic activity is quite low, no major earthquakes in last few dedades.

The 82nd verse of Surah Hud, clearly states the kind of disaster that befell the people of Lut. “When Our Decree issued, We turned (the cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay, spread, layer on layer�

http://harun-yahya.cnrglab.itb.ac.id/pernat13.html

The distruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah?

[Adux]

Quite funny that the dead sea is really going to be dead now..

[Neo]

Its called dead since there's almost 'no life' in the Dead Sea due very high level of natrium (salt).
Now it will be double dead.

[Adux]

double dead.

Did you take that from a Van Damme Movie title

[Interceptor]

Dajjal asked a christian ship merchant if the Dead sea is dry he replied it isn't Dajjal will come when it is dry.

Anyways nice read.

[Adux]

funny I am watching History Channel End of times, where they say dajjal is a short stout/fat man with one eye

[niaz]

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Main source of water for the Dead Sea is River Jordan. Until 1948 , most of the area what is now Israel was a desert. Now with the increasing population and irrigation, most of the Jordan river water is being used by the humans. With less water going in and Fertilizer projects both in Jordan and in Israel using extracting minerals from the Dead Sea, water level is falling.