Why is the Dead Sea drying up?
Will the Dead Sea disappear in a couple of years?
Today it’s no longer a secret. The Dead Sea is disappearing.
Remember how we used to draw the Dead Sea in the shape of a bean?
Today that shape no longer exists, the beaches grow larger and the water recedes.
Today all that is left of the Dead Sea is salgen.it the northern shore and even that is narrow and thin.
Over the last 30 years, the sea level decreased by 25 meters!!!
Do you realize how high that is? How much water that is?
Wait and that’s not all of it.
Each year the Dead Sea loses 1.1 meters.
Why does it happen? Why is the Dead Sea drying up?
For two reasons.
The first reason is that in the past the Jordan river flowed its water into the Dead Sea.
However, along the years, dams were built along the river and a large portion of its water is directed to other places.
The result: the Dead Sea receives less and less water from the Jordan river.
That makes it very hard to fill up the reservoirs that are drying up naturally as a result of the seeping of the water into the ground and the weather climate.
The second reason is even more sad.
Huge factories that were built along the shoreline are pumping tremendous amounts of water for industrial needs and are drying it to the bone.
The Dead Sea is one of the most rare salt water sources in the world and contrary to the perception according to which it grows no life, it is the natural habitat of rare animals.
And let’s not forget the original purpose of the sea, that for thousands of years has been serving as a unique healing site that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from all around the world.
But this sea is drying up, and at this pace, if no measures are taken, this trend will continue.
In the meantime, the drying water creates a particularly large and immediate danger.
The sinkholes
The sinkholes are increasing in the Dead Sea area, and they are creating for a particular reason.
As a result of the receding water, we find dry and cracked earth, filled with underground spaces, that might, at any moment and with no warning, open up and swallow everything around them.
These sinkholes have caused a large part of the Dead Sea tourism to stop, and even the orchards at Kibbutz Ein-Gedi, located at the shoreline, have disappeared due to the fear of danger.
Some call this phenomenon the revenge of the Dead Sea.
Against those who take advantage of the rivers flowing to it and the salt water in it for industrial needs and don’t think of the long-term damage they are causing to it.
In any case, the uncertainty concerning these sinkholes significantly slows down all the industries around the Dead Sea.
How will it all end? We don’t know, however someone will eventually have to get up and find a solution to this matter.
It was already offered to build a tunnel from the Red Sea that will bring water from one sea to the other.
Another suggestion was: just wait for the sea to decrease another 100 meters and reach a condition where the salt level will slow down the evaporation rate and it will then stop disappearing (if there will be anything left but then).
In the meantime, there is a lack of people willing to stand and take upon themselves the Dead Sea as a national rescue project.
We will have to wait, watch the sinkholes along the road and pray that this treasure continues to exist despite all the damages and dangers.
Want to learn more about the Dead Sea? Enter the following link: Information about the Dead Sea
