Jordan River Restoration ProjectSince the early 1960s, 1.2 billion cubic meters annual flow has been removed from the Jordan River, leaving it dependent on sewage to remain low enough in saline to enable continued use for irrigation. It is in danger of drying up completely. The diversion of water from the Jordan River has also resulted in the Dead Sea declining by about 1.2 meters per year, leading to catastrophic decline of the environmental conditions around the Dead Sea. While Friends of Earth Middle East has been talking about restoring the Jordan flow by stopping the diversion of water for agricultural uses upstream, more water is being diverted. Another plan they have proposed is replacing the diverted water with desalinated water. The most practical way to do this is to supply desalinated water from the Dead Sea utilizing the deep layer of Med Sea water to be placed on top of the Dead Sea by the proposed Dead Sea Power Project. A desalination plant to provide water for Amman, Jericho, and the Jordan Valley could be built with the funds that the World Bank plans to raise from donor nations to build the pipeline from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The World Bank should encourage the development of a plan to save the Jordan River as part of the analysis contract for the Red-Dead Conveyance project. While the Red-Dead Conveyance project lacks the capacity to supply the needed water or to restore the Dead Sea, the 5 billion cubic meter annual flow planned for the DSPP can easily supply the needed water. The water would be produced by a desalination plant on the north end of the Dead Sea. Desalinated water would be pumped via pipeline to just below the Sea of Galilee, providing potable water for use in the Jordan Valley between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Unused water could be dumped into the Jordan River and allowed to flow back toward the Dead Sea, being collected for irrigation water along the way. You can read an interesting article about the condition of the Jordan River at this link: http://www.voanews.com/english/Water-Reason-for-Conflict-or-Cooperation-in-the-Middle-East.cfm |