Ghor al-Haditha (Jordan) – Israel and Jordan have long pursued a commongoal to stop the Dead Sea from shrinking while slaking their shared thirstfor drinking water with a pipeline from the Red Sea some 200 kilometresaway.
Geopolitical tensions have stalled efforts to break ground on the ambitiousproject for years, but the end of the latest diplomatic spat has backershoping a final accord may now be in sight.
The degradation of the Dead Sea, on the border of Israel, Jordan and thePalestinian West Bank, began in the 1960s when water began to be heavilydiverted from the Jordan River.
“Before 1967, the water was just a 10-minute walk from my house,” said MusaSalim al-Athem, a farmer who grows tomatoes on the banks on the Jordan side.
“Now it takes an hour,” he said, standing amid the resulting lunarlandscape of spectacular salt sculptures, gaping sinkholes and craters.
“Only the sea can fill up the sea.”
“Since 1950, the amount flowing in the Jordan has dropped from 1.2 billioncubic metres per year (42 billion cubic feet) to less than 200 million,”said Frederic Maurel, an engineering expert at the French developmentagency AFD.
Heavy production of potash, used for making fertiliser, has alsoaccelerated evaporation that has seen the sea’s surface area shrink by athird since 1960.
Experts say water levels are falling one metre (three feet) a year, andwarn it could dry out completely within 30 years.
– ‘Economic treasure’ –
Already 100 years ago, Theodor Herzl, the father of modern politicalZionism, had envisaged filling the Dead Sea via a canal dug to theMediterranean.
The sea’s natural beauty and mineral-rich black mud have also provided asource of tourism revenue.
“The Dead Sea has historical, biblical, natural, touristic, medical andindustrial values that make it an invaluable cultural, environmental andeconomic treasure,” said Avner Adin, a specialist in water science at theHebrew University of Jerusalem.
After years of studies, the $1.1 billion Red Sea “Peace Conduit” deal wassigned by Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities in 2013.
The project, located entirely on Jordanian territory, includes adesalination plant near Aqaba.
After producing drinking water, the remaining highly saline liquid will besent by pipeline to fill the Dead Sea, powering two hydroelectric plantsalong the way.
A subsequent 2015 deal would see Israel get 35 billion cubic metres ofpotable water from the desalination plant for its parched southern regions.
The mostly desert Jordan, for its part, would get up to 50 billion cubicmetres of freshwater from the Sea of Galilee.
Israel also agreed to sell 32 billion cubic metres to the Palestinianauthorities.
Jordan announced in November 2016 that it had chosen five internationalconsortiums to build the first phase of the canal.
But talks on how to finance the deal, which calls for $400 million ofpublic funding, and geopolitical flare-ups have kept the project frommoving forward.
– ‘Diplomatic hazards’ –
Some $120 million has already been pledged by donors including the US andJapan, while France’s AFD agency has secured the backing of the EU and somemember states for $140 million in preferential loans to Jordan.
Talks were frozen last year after an Israeli security guard shot and killedtwo Jordanians at the Israeli embassy in Amman, prompting a diplomaticstandoff that ended only in January.
“We have never been so close to starting the project,” Maurel said. “Itonly needs a final push by the Jordanian and Israeli authorities.”
A diplomatic source in Amman said the project remained essential for theregion given the environmental and economic stakes, “but it’s still at themercy of diplomatic hazards.”
For Adin at the Hebrew University, “It seems to be that the situation isimproving. The main obstacle in my mind could be financial.”
Officials in Jordan say they are determined to press ahead with or withoutIsrael to cope with the needs of a rising population which has been swelledby about one million refugees fleeing the war in neighbouring Syria.
“We are proceeding with the project because desalination eventually is thefuture of Jordan when it comes to water,” said Iyad Dahiyat, secretarygeneral of the country’s water authority.
“Water is part of the stability of the kingdom itself,” he added. “It’s anational security issue.” – Agencies