New Boost For Planned Canal Between Red Sea And Dead Sea

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 6-27-2007 | Ian Black

[blam]

New boost for planned canal between Red Sea and Dead Sea

· Firms commissioned to study feasibility of link
· 25-year project would ease region's water shortage

Ian Black, Middle East editor

Wednesday June 27, 2007
The Guardian (UK)

Hopes of building a canal linking the Red Sea to the Dead Sea have been given a fresh boost with 11 firms commissioned to produce feasibility studies. Their work will be submitted to an Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian committee looking at ways to implement the huge engineering scheme, which could take as long as 25 years to complete.

As well as reviving the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea - the lowest place on earth and its most saline body of water - the proposed "Red-Dead" canal would ease the region's acute water shortage by providing up to 830bn cubic feet of water to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. Cost estimates range from $3bn-$5bn.

Water levels have dropped by a metre a year for the past 20 years due to evaporation and diversions by Israel, Jordan and Syria. The sea's surface area has shrunk by 30% in the same period: hotels built on the shoreline of the Israeli side now ferry tourists to the water in buses. What was once the sea floor is strewn with sinkholes - concentrations of salt and minerals that collapse into craters. Experts say the sea could dry up entirely and its ecosystem disappear in the next 50 years if nothing is done. The studies will look at the environmental and social consequences of transferring water from the Red Sea at Aqaba in Jordan, raising it 170 metres above sea level and letting it fall into the Dead Sea

[Old Sarge]

So, which is better, “dead”, or “red”?

[RightWhale]

Tourism would benefit.

[bert]

Why?
What is the benefit to be derived?

[Vigilanteman]

Sound's like a good place to store some of the excess water from icecaps melting from "global warming."

This would not be quite as impressive as building a canal from the Medditerranean to the Qatarra Depression in northwestern Egypt.

Such a man-made lake could hold up to 7/8th of the excess run-off from a total meltdown of the Greenland glacier.

Isn't it funny that you never hear global warming alarmists discuss such relatively simple counter measures? Have you ever wondered why?

[mjp]

[blam]

Are there unintended consequences like earthquakes from the additional weight, etc?

[AFreeBird]

Seems to me that a canal to the Med would be closer. But I just found a link to the idea of a Med/Dead/Red canal that was proposed back in 1855.

Interesting. Besides Tourism, there's be transportation, and water through desalinization.

[KarlInOhio]

the proposed "Red-Dead" canal would ease the region's acute water shortage by providing up to 830bn cubic feet of water to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.

Isn't the problem a lack of fresh water? The Red Sea isn't as salty as the Dead Sea, but it still is salt water. Unless there is a shortage of salt water (or maybe a desire for it at inland desalination plants), how would Red Sea water cure anything?

[AFreeBird]

[AFreeBird]

(or maybe a desire for it at inland desalination plants)

You said it.

[CdMGuy]

It would be very expensive as there are mountains between the Dead Sea and the Med. Lots of tunneling - not at all attractive to anyone experienced in water transport.

[G8 Diplomat]

providing up to 830bn cubic feet of water to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.

At first I read that as "providing water to Jordan, Israel, and Palestinian terrorists." Good thing I did a double take before planning a tirade. But how is joining the saltiest body of water on the planet with another saline body supposed to yeild fresh drinking water?

Oh yeah, and instead of the "Red-Dead" I'd call it the "Dead-Red". That has a nice ring to it. It makes me think of the death of communism.

[wideminded]

Seems to me that a canal to the Med would be closer

Here are some Wikipedia links about the project. Some of the articles referenced from them have more in-depth discussions.

Sounds like the Red-Sea route is more expensive although it does avoid Gaza. But it's being pushed by people who want to do a joint project with Jordan. Plus Jordan might not want Israel to unilaterally alter the level or salinity of the Dead Sea.

Dead Sea canal
Two Seas Canal

[Strategerist]

It’s already an exceedingly dangerous earthquake area - been unusually quiet the last couple hundred years, but there have been massive earthquakes routinely over history there - the Dead Sea and Jordan River Valleys are a transform fault like the San Andreas.

Filling of reservoirs has caused pretty decent-sized quakes, especially in China.

[SunkenCiv]

Water levels have dropped by a metre a year for the past 20 years due to evaporation and diversions by Israel, Jordan and Syria.

Syria is the major culprit here. Israel is a very careful user of water (hydroponics, trickle irrigation), and used to export veggies to Europe, but now imports water in the form of fruits and veggies. Syria (in violation of international law, AFAIK) diverted a river that used to water Jordan. Syria didn't do it for any reason besides a political one. One result (eventually, this has gone on for decades) was the 1994 treaty between Jordan and Israel, under which Israel is obligated to supply water to Jordan to make up that shortfall caused by Syria and by the incrased population (the "Palestinian" Arabs in Jordan).

Anyway, the plan here is to use the (salt) water to generate electrical power to feed growing demand as well as operate desalination systems. The less salty the water in the first place, the easier it is to desalinate. Evaporation will still be in operation, and at some point (as the level rises and the surface increases in area) the flow will exactly equal evaporation, meaning that the basin will never fill up, and the hydroelectricity will keep flowing indefinitely.

Due to the amount of agriculture in the Sea of Galilee (Chinnereth) and the fact that it too is well below sealevel, the entire basin will not be filled up. :') The proposal for a Med-Dead canal seems like it would be cheaper, but there are other considerations (a more secure border with Saudi Arabia?).

[aruanan]

I wonder what kinds of ruins have been found.

So they're just going to raise the water on one side and dump it over to the other?

[SunkenCiv]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Seas_Canal

“///The proposal has generated concern in Egypt which believes that the canal will increase seismic activity in the region; provide Israel with water for cooling its nuclear reactor near Dimona; turn the Negev Desert in to a settlement area and increase the salinity of wells.”

Egypt complaining about the increased salinity of wells? The Aswan High Dam and resulting Lake Nasser has been doing that for nearly 40 years, also devastated Nile delta life (plants, animals, and humans who relied on the first two), screwed up agricultural methods used for thousands of years, and last but not least, has been causing vast amounts of damage to ancient monuments downstream.

“Unfortunately the Red/Dead route, in addition to being less worthwhile in economic terms than alternative canals to the Dead Sea, may prove to be impractical due to chemical incompatibility of Red sea and Dead sea water.”

Hmm, where’s the “citation needed” crap the editor is supposed to add to that?