Sunday, December 17, 2006

Dead Sea is dying again

An ecological disaster is waiting to happen. Hidden in the world's deepest valley is the biblical Dead Sea which is the lowest point on the earth, 1300 feet below sea level.

You can never drown in the Dead Sea, you can only float there. The Dead Sea is facing massive evaporation and there are fears that the sea may dry up in another three decades. The river has lost so much volume because it is used to supply the farms and cities of Israel, Jordan and Syria with water.

There is a study to divert water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea but no one is sure what would happen if waters from two different bodies of salt water are mixed. The Dead Sea needs a fighting chance to survive. Increasing political tensions in a thirsty middle east may give no easy answers to raise the receding levels of this 'sacred river.'

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