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salty lake located at the lowest point on Earth, is gradually shrinking under the heat of the Middle Eastern sun.

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The shoreline has merged with the Moab Mountains, two kilometers away from the steps that were built to descend to the waters edge in the mid-1980s

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Located in one of the driest regions in the world.

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The Dead Sea receives much of its water supply from the Jordan River.

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In recent years water that would have flowed into the salt lake is being diverted from the river due to critical water shortages in the three-country region.

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The area around the sea has an established tourism and health industry because of the water's unique properties.

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Around the waterline lies a salty desert, split by deep fissures containing freshwater creeks flowing from the Ein Feshkha springs. The canyons, like the sinkholes, are associated with the Dead Sea’s falling water level.

Every year the creeks carve deeper into the salty soil, creating new canyons, some of them dozens of meters deep. This is new terrain, formed in front of our eyes over the last 20 years, in a place that until recently was part of a sea.

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The surface level of the Dead Sea is falling by more than a metre a year.

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The neighbouring countries of Israel, Palestine and Jordan suffer from continuous water shortages due to factors such as droughts and population increases.

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rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north

Ground water dropping

Sinkholes appearing as water dissolving underground salt deposits

Increase in local populations

Climate change

Increase in droughts

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Buildings that have been swallowed by a sinkhole on the Mineral Beach

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Buildings that have been swallowed by a sinkhole on the Mineral Beach

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There are now more than 5,500 such holes around the shoreline where 40 years ago there were none.

The increasing number of sinkholes has made it difficult for farmers to operate safely in the area.

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"The Dead Sea was here and now it's 2km away, and with the tractor and the gasoline and the staff it costs us $500,000 a year to chase the sea." - Nir Vanger,  Ein Gedi's tourist operations.

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The Dead Sea is a unique ecosystem and an environment in a part of the world where an arid climate and the need to irrigate farms combine to create a permanent shortage of water.

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The declining water level that creates the sinkholes is causing another geological phenomenon – the deepening of the area’s stream beds. As sea levels drop and the shoreline recedes, the streams’ drainage area lengthens. This intensifies the force of the water flowing down from the hills to the sea, deepening and widening the stream beds with each successive flood. Route 90, which serves as somewhat of a dam between the mountains and the sea, is hit by powerful floods every winter. The bridges across these streams cannot withstand the new circumstances. For local residents, this means that every winter will bring more frequent and longer-lasting closures of the road, as they wait for the Israel National Roads Company to complete repairs. Despite these difficulties, this road will almost certainly remain a major route to Eilat or Masada 20 years from now. Maintaining the road will become increasingly expensive. Bridges along the highway will turn into large-scale, extremely costly infrastructure projects, and the surrounding wild desert landscape and nature reserves will be irrevocably damaged.

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Take water from Red Sea, desalinize and waste water pumped into Dead Sea

Environmental Impact Assessment not made yet

Israel keen to participate

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1. https://www.american.edu/cas/news/israel-water-conference.cfm

2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36477284

3. https://www.haaretz.com/st/c/prod/global/deadsea/eng/5/

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desalinisation (has one of the largest desalination plants worldwide)

waste water re-use ( has the largest wastewater treatment plant in the Middle East)

Israel and Water Conference

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“In the Middle East, water is a trans-boundary resource that crosses borders between Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Even if water is produced in Israel, it is then sold to the Palestinians and Jordanians, impacting the politics and economics of water governance. Water related innovation is therefore deeply enmeshed in the regional political economy.”  - Eric Abitbol

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Addresses the drying of the Dead Sea and drastically bolsters the area’s water supply.

The first ever regional project endorsed by Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians.

The project aims to create a pipeline between the Red Sea at the southern tip of Israel and the Dead Sea in the Arava Valley. Water will be pumped from the Red Sea to a desalination plant in Jordan that will process and disseminate drinking water to the region.

“The initiation of this project was successful because of the urgent need for water by all parties. It opens the gates for major regional cooperation.” - Jordanian water minister  Dr. Hazim El-Naser