Ecologists warn the Dead Sea may live up to its name and dry up

The Dead Sea is drying up at an average rate of 1.2 metres per year and ecologists warn that it may disappear, writes Rob Ludgate in Israel.

THE Dead Sea is living up to its name and may soon become just that — ecologists are warning that the unique site may soon disappear due to rapidly falling water levels.

The world’s saltiest body of water, renowned for its extreme buoyancy, is drying up at an average rate of 1.2 metres per year.

The sea level has dropped 20 metres since development of the region began a century ago and the sea has already lost one-third of its surface area. The southern part of the sea, where the water was always shallower, has completely disappeared.

In some places, the water has receded more than two kilometres from the shoreline. In its place is a no-go zone, a treacherous wasteland sign-posted with warnings to would-be walkers who might otherwise fall victim to its many mud-pits and sink-holes.

Though exacerbated by global climate change, the cause of the Dead Sea’s problem is more straightforward and theoretically easier to resolve.

The sun-baked land and the sea have traditionally been fed by fresh water from the River Jordan but since the 1960s, this source has been systematically diverted.

Campaign groups have been warning for years of the dangers this could pose.

Friends of the Earth Israel director Gidon Bromberg said: “This really is a catastrophe in the making and it’s a man-made catastrophe caused by the Israeli and Jordanian governments.

“Between them, they have diverted more than 95% of the water from the River Jordan, the Dead Sea’s main source, and this is why there’s a problem.”

The authorities have been aware of the problems faced by the Dead Sea for over two decades and are trying to come up with a solution.

They have so far ruled out any freeing up of the River Jordan’s water and are currently involved in discussions with the World Bank about the funding of their preferred option, a canal that would connect the Dead Sea to another water source, the Red Sea.

This plan faces major technical and ecological difficulties, however, and has been widely criticised by ecologists and Dead Sea communities who feel they have had their water stolen by their government.

Around the sea lie a ring of 1960s-built resorts which have been left high and dry by the receding waters.

Maia Kutner, a visitor at Ein Gedi Kibbutz spa said: “When my parents used to come here, the water came right up to the resort, you could just wander into the water. Now they have to drive you down a road for five minutes before you even get close to the water.

“I wonder what it will be like for my children, if there’s any sea left at all, that is.”

The problems caused by the falling water levels are more than mere unsightliness and inconvenience to tourists however.

The most urgent are the sink-holes created by changes in the flow of groundwater. All around the sea, holes are opening up, some centimetres across, others dozens of metres in diameter. These are posing a massive threat to people’s safety and to the region’s infrastructure, consuming whatever occupies the areas they appear in.

Another problem is that posed to the region’s delicate eco-system.

Throughout the stark mountains which surround the sea, fresh-water springs have given life to magnificent oases which serve as habitats for ibex, hyrax and leopard.

The existence of these springs is determined by ground-water levels and as these change these environments will be lost.

The Dead Sea is currently 50 kilometres long and 17 kilometres wide at its widest.

The water level is 412 metres below the Mediterranean Sea, making its shores the lowest point on earth not covered in water.

It is around 10 times more saline than the oceans.