Fresh Water From a Dead Sea
A fresh glass of cool, clear water is a luxury in many places of the world. Consider, for example, the area of the Dead Sea, located in the southeastern part of Israel. It is one of the most unique places on earth. Since it is 1385 feet below sea level, it distinguishes itself as the lowest place on the surface of the earth. Water cannot flow out so only through evaporation can water escape, leaving behind the dissolved salts and minerals brought in by the Jordan River and other tributaries. It is Israel’s and Jordan’s natural waste dump.
Secondly, at 8.6 times saltier than the oceans, the Dead Sea is second saltiest body of water on earth. To hold this record, it is a 33.7% salt solution. Below 300 feet the saturated solution precipitates the salt to the bottom. Also, at 11 miles wide, 42 feet long, and 1240 feet deep, it is the deepest salt lake in the world.
Because of the fact that the mineral laden water escapes only by evaporation, vast stores of potash, bromine, caustic soda, magnesium, and sodium chloride have dissolved in its waters over the last several thousand years. One estimate is that the Dead Sea area holds more than two trillion dollars worth of fertilizer compounds (presently 1.9 billion tons of potash). The characteristics that make the Sea dead have certainly contributed to giving the country life.
But the level of water in the Dead Sea is dropping at a present rate of three feet a year. This means since 1970, the level has dropped 72 feet. What are the reasons for this? First, little rain feeds it. The northern part of the Sea gets about 4 inches of rain a year, the southern part only 2 inches. Irrigation and manufacturing in the northern part of the country have dropped the amount of water flowing through the Jordan River by 90%.
The salts are reported to have therapeutic value and are taken out of the Dead Sea and sold for this. Desalination plants located in the southern part of the Sea both remove valuable products and provide fresh, clean water. This has also lowered the water table in the country, affecting the ability to provide enough water for the citizens and increasing the need to take water from the Jordan.
The entire country has been affected by this drop in water level. For example, it has caused the Dead Sea to change its very shape. The bottom third of the Sea was always very shallow compared with the rest. Some conjecture that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, mentioned in the Old Testament book of Genesis, were located in this area. But, because of the lower water level, the Lisan Peninsula (Arabic for “tongue” because of its shape) now separates the Sea into two parts.
The Dead Sea has attracted tourists for centuries and a continued drop in water level may affect this. But the Dead Sea is, frankly, a healthy place to be, for it has a low level of allergens, increased air pressure, decreased ultra-violet solar radiation, and high levels of oxygen.
Presently Jordan and Israel are considering a joint project called the “Two Seas Canal”. It would pump salt water from the Aqaba region of the Red Sea 125 miles over the hills to the Dead Sea. Desalination and power plants on the Jordanian side of the Sea would produce both hydroelectricity as the pumped water falls into the Sea, and 850 million cubic meters of fresh water a year.
People in the west surely take for granted a glass of fresh, clean water. Other nations must go to great trouble to provide it for their people, and often must limit its use so there is enough. Whether or not our sources of water are threatened, wise stewardship is in order so that we continue to have enough of this life-giving liquid for years to come.
But if you’re going to an area where the water is not pure, consider the Berkey Water Filters. The Black Berkey Filters that ship with the Berkey Light, or any other model, are able to filter out microscopic bacteria without removing the minerals beneficial to your health. There is virtually no other water filter system that can do this.