The Jordan River and the Dead Sea
Sep. 17th, 2008 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidMonday night I went to a talk at MIT (sponsored by MITSI) by Clive Lipchin of the Arava Institute, about the ecology of the Jordan River and its watershed area, which includes not only Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but Jordan and Syria too.
It's pretty much the only major riparian system in the area. Originally, water ran from the Kinneret and the Yarmok River (part of the boundary between Jordan and Syria) into the Jordan, ending at the Dead Sea (which has no outlet). However, all the countries have challenging climates, and with growing populations and growing agriculture comes a greater need for water. Since there is no international oversight of the river, each country has instituted its own unilateral plans, and together, it's stressed the water system greatly.
Israel created the National Water Carrier in 1964, a system that dammed the Kinneret and set up pipes to get that water around the country, south and west of the Kinneret. There are hot springs around the Kinneret that have water with lots of minerals. Since this is not desirable for potable water, that is diverted to the Jordan, resulting in a river with a far higher mineral content than previously.
Jordan dug a channel parallel to the Jordan River (to the east, of course), diverting water into its most useful arable lands (I got the impression that this is the only major growing area, but no hard facts). So the volume of water getting into the Jordan River is further decreased.
Syria diverts som e of the Yarmok for its own use as well (though there weren't details about specific projects).
And while the Palestinian Authority does not divert the waters of the river itself, it is a major source of raw sewage in the water, because there is no water treatment plant in the area. Though it would be an affordable thing to build, there have been political issues with getting it built, and in the meantime sewage flows into the river, and contaminates the groundwater as well.
I was surprised to learn that one of the worst industrial industries for runoff purposes is olive factories. Something about curing them produces some nasty stuff (no clue if there are other ways that could be used); there's a noticeable rise during olive picking times of the year.
The result? The Dead Sea has less water, and with more contaminants. It has so much less water that it is rapidly shrinking, up to a meter per year since 1979. There were slides showing where the steps to the shore ended in the early 1980s, and how far away the current coast is... with shrubbery and trees growing in between. The graphs of surface elevation of the water were equally scary, dropping so precipitously (as it were) in the last couple of decades. As it shrinks, companies involved in the production of potash are concerned, lest their raw materials get used up. Another side effect of the reduction in water is that there are sinkholes opening all around the edges, threatening the stability of all the buildings, and of the archaeological sites in the area. The reason they're opening is that the salt water is retreating faster than the fresh water runoff from the eastern side of Jerusalem fills in the space, leaving gaps. Also, some of the spaces are supported by pillars of salt (Lot's wife underground, anyone?), and they're dissolving. When the Israelis surveyed their side of the Dead Sea, they found more than 10,000 sinkholes, and the other side likely has a similar number.
The current ideas for how to save the Dead Sea involve pumping water from the Mediterranean or the Red Sea. The latter is a longer route, but is along the border, which means there is the possibiity for international cooperation, which the Israelis would prefer. If the plan works, it means that 'regular Joes' could see some material benefit from having peace with Israel, getting more water. If it were just about Israel's water, they've got two desalination plants on the Mediterranean, and three more are being built. But this is a chance to start working together to manage the region's resources, and it's a small area: every state's environmental actions (also other sorts...) have an impact on the others.
The proposal that is undergoing a feasibility study now involves a tunnel and canal system taking water from the Red Sea back to the Dead Sea, with a desalination plant just before the final descent. The power from that drop can fuel the plant. Two thirds of the water would go to Jordan, with the rest split between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The waste from the process would go into the Dead Sea. (What I should have asked: how is this any different from the hot springs near the Kinneret being diverted to the Jordan River?) Of concern is that there are failsafes so the seawater being transported is contained before desalination, lest it get into the local area and infiltrate the groundwater. It's a fairly arid area, and accidents like that could have a huge negative effect, especially because a number of kibbutzim there are focused on agriculture.
Also about water: Israel is apparently a leader in using (treated) greywater for agriculture, with 70% being reused this way. Only 50% of fresh water goes to agriculture, and it is known that there is a cap on using any more, since it is only fresh water that can be used for certain purposes.
There were some fascinating schematic drawings of the Jordan River system over time in the slides. I wish I could show them here.
It's pretty much the only major riparian system in the area. Originally, water ran from the Kinneret and the Yarmok River (part of the boundary between Jordan and Syria) into the Jordan, ending at the Dead Sea (which has no outlet). However, all the countries have challenging climates, and with growing populations and growing agriculture comes a greater need for water. Since there is no international oversight of the river, each country has instituted its own unilateral plans, and together, it's stressed the water system greatly.
Israel created the National Water Carrier in 1964, a system that dammed the Kinneret and set up pipes to get that water around the country, south and west of the Kinneret. There are hot springs around the Kinneret that have water with lots of minerals. Since this is not desirable for potable water, that is diverted to the Jordan, resulting in a river with a far higher mineral content than previously.
Jordan dug a channel parallel to the Jordan River (to the east, of course), diverting water into its most useful arable lands (I got the impression that this is the only major growing area, but no hard facts). So the volume of water getting into the Jordan River is further decreased.
Syria diverts som e of the Yarmok for its own use as well (though there weren't details about specific projects).
And while the Palestinian Authority does not divert the waters of the river itself, it is a major source of raw sewage in the water, because there is no water treatment plant in the area. Though it would be an affordable thing to build, there have been political issues with getting it built, and in the meantime sewage flows into the river, and contaminates the groundwater as well.
I was surprised to learn that one of the worst industrial industries for runoff purposes is olive factories. Something about curing them produces some nasty stuff (no clue if there are other ways that could be used); there's a noticeable rise during olive picking times of the year.
The result? The Dead Sea has less water, and with more contaminants. It has so much less water that it is rapidly shrinking, up to a meter per year since 1979. There were slides showing where the steps to the shore ended in the early 1980s, and how far away the current coast is... with shrubbery and trees growing in between. The graphs of surface elevation of the water were equally scary, dropping so precipitously (as it were) in the last couple of decades. As it shrinks, companies involved in the production of potash are concerned, lest their raw materials get used up. Another side effect of the reduction in water is that there are sinkholes opening all around the edges, threatening the stability of all the buildings, and of the archaeological sites in the area. The reason they're opening is that the salt water is retreating faster than the fresh water runoff from the eastern side of Jerusalem fills in the space, leaving gaps. Also, some of the spaces are supported by pillars of salt (Lot's wife underground, anyone?), and they're dissolving. When the Israelis surveyed their side of the Dead Sea, they found more than 10,000 sinkholes, and the other side likely has a similar number.
The current ideas for how to save the Dead Sea involve pumping water from the Mediterranean or the Red Sea. The latter is a longer route, but is along the border, which means there is the possibiity for international cooperation, which the Israelis would prefer. If the plan works, it means that 'regular Joes' could see some material benefit from having peace with Israel, getting more water. If it were just about Israel's water, they've got two desalination plants on the Mediterranean, and three more are being built. But this is a chance to start working together to manage the region's resources, and it's a small area: every state's environmental actions (also other sorts...) have an impact on the others.
The proposal that is undergoing a feasibility study now involves a tunnel and canal system taking water from the Red Sea back to the Dead Sea, with a desalination plant just before the final descent. The power from that drop can fuel the plant. Two thirds of the water would go to Jordan, with the rest split between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The waste from the process would go into the Dead Sea. (What I should have asked: how is this any different from the hot springs near the Kinneret being diverted to the Jordan River?) Of concern is that there are failsafes so the seawater being transported is contained before desalination, lest it get into the local area and infiltrate the groundwater. It's a fairly arid area, and accidents like that could have a huge negative effect, especially because a number of kibbutzim there are focused on agriculture.
Also about water: Israel is apparently a leader in using (treated) greywater for agriculture, with 70% being reused this way. Only 50% of fresh water goes to agriculture, and it is known that there is a cap on using any more, since it is only fresh water that can be used for certain purposes.
There were some fascinating schematic drawings of the Jordan River system over time in the slides. I wish I could show them here.