Feasibility Study investigates transfer of water between two seas
Posted: 25 May 2005
Jordan , the Palestinian Authority and Israel agreed terms for a feasibility study on transferring water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea , said a report. The agreement was announced at a joint press conference on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) between Jordan 's Minister of Water and Irrigation, Raed Abu Saoud, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Palestinian planning minister Ghassan Al Khatib.
It said the two-year study, costing $15 million, will investigate the social and environmental impact of conveying large quantities of water through a 200-km conduit between the two seas.
The study will be supervised by the World Bank and financed by a number of donor countries.
The project, if proven feasible, involves the building of a small canal on the Red Sea between Jordan and Israel and then pumping water to the Dead Sea through a 180-km pipe or several pipes.
The project in its second phase involves building power generation and water desalination plants to supply electricity and fresh water to Jordan , Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Zafer Alem, secretary-general of Jordan Valley Authority, said the first phase is estimated to cost $1 billion while the second phase is expected to cost up to $3 billion.
The surface of the Dead Sea is estimated to have dropped from 392 metres below sea level to 416 meters and is dropping at an alarming rate.
Alem said that between 250 to 300 million cubic metres (6.6 to 7.9 billion imperial gallons) of fresh water were being lost annually because of a tilt in the Dead Sea plateau as a result of a drop in its level.
He said that so far, 30 per cent of the surface area of the Dead Sea has already been lost.
Abu Saoud said the Dead Sea needs some two billion cubic metres (528 billion gallons) of water annually from the Red Sea in order to save the Dead Sea.
Experts said that some 66 billion cubic metres (17.4 trillion gallons) have evaporated from the Dead Sea because of industrial uses.
Posted by Editor Offshore Arabia Magazine
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