The news was greeted with great fanfare: The Dead Sea, it was announced last week, is among the finalists in the competition to determine the seven natural wonders of the world.
Up against the likes of the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls and the Great Barrier Reef, people around here have high hopes that this salty inland lake, the lowest place on the Earth's surface, will emerge victorious by the time ballots from around the world are tallied in 2011.
Looking out across the pale blue water and the ancient Judean Hills to the west, Maysoon Zoubi, Secretary-General of Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation, is pleased that the Dead Sea entry was the product of co-operation among Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. All three border the body of water – it's known as Yam Hamelach or “Sea of Salt” in Hebrew; Bahr Lut or “Sea of Lot” in Arabic – and all three hope to cash in on the tourism that such international recognition will stimulate.
For decades, Israeli hotels and spas have stood on the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea; Jordan has built 8,000 hotel rooms on the eastern side and plans 25,000 more. The Palestinian Authority hopes to benefit from visits to the northwestern shore, including Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea scrolls were uncovered.
There's just one problem: This coveted, unique body of water may not be around to enjoy the accolades for long. The surface of the Dead Sea is falling at the rate of one metre per year. “Unless something is done soon, it will be gone in 50 years,” says Ms. Zoubi, who knows it will take further co-operation among the three parties if this fate is to be avoided.
The Dead Sea has no outlet. Its loss of water comes from the considerable evaporation that results from the region's year-round hot climate. But until 40 years ago, enough water flowed into the Dead Sea to keep its level constant.
The problem is that the Jordan River, which flows into the Dead Sea, is no longer deep and wide. It's reduced to a trickle (mostly of effluent) after Israel and Jordan have used its water for irrigation and fish ponds.
To compound the problem, the Sea of Galilee, the main provider of the Jordan's water, is at its lowest level ever recorded. Opening the dam at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee (also known as Lake Kinneret in Israel) would make no difference – there isn't enough water to reach even the lowest level of the even the lowest level of the dam.
Four consecutive years of drought is one of the reasons water has been so scarce. But Israel's diversion of the Jordan's water just north of the Sea of Galilee is the biggest culprit. Since the mid-1960s, water from rivers that originate in Lebanon, Syria and Israel's Hula Valley has been drawn off by Israel's national water utility to satisfy the thirst of the country's southern population centres. (As well, under the terms of its 1995 peace treaty with Jordan, Israel supplies the Hashemite Kingdom with at least 55 million cubic metres of that water each year.)
What's the solution to the Dead Sea's demise? Once again, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have displayed remarkable co-operation in agreeing on an approach, but it's a cure that may prove more devastating than the illness. The three governments say the best solution is to construct a pipeline or canal to bring water to the Dead Sea from the Red Sea, 190 kilometres to the south.
It's not the first time that a scheme to replenish the Dead Sea with water from either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea has been proposed, but it's the first that may actually get built. For while the World Bank is still conducting feasibility studies, Israel and Jordan are impatient to begin work.
