The Dead Sea Today

The Dead Sea is primarily fed by the Jordan River, which began to be drained for irrigation in the 1960s. This is of great importance because without the constant supply of water that comes from the Jordan River, the Dead Sea began to experience a lot of unfortunate changes.

In order to be able to understand the most dramatic change that took place with the Dead Sea, you must first understand the stratification that marked this body of water. Throughout the years the Dead Sea has served as a gigantic, natural spa that has soothed many of the kings, queens and peasants throughout history. It has also served as the source of Dead Sea salts that people from around the world are anxious to purchase. Once the Jordan River stopped so generously feeding the Dead Sea, there was a division in the layers of the water. The lower layer was cool and completely saturated with salt. On the other hand, the upper layer was warm and the amount of salt increased greatly in concentration. In fact, it grew to such a point that the salt level in the upper part of the Dead Sea actually contained more salt than the lower level while still remaining generally warmer. This underwent yet another change in 1978/1979 when the upper level of water cooled as the concentration of salt weighted it down.

Just by looking at this dramatic change, you can see how this historic body of water is being affected by the region's activities today. Nevertheless, the needs of those who live upriver on the Jordan River have only continued to increase. This has caused the Dead Sea to shrink more and more each year. It is unlikely that the Dead Sea will ever disappear for good since the surface area is continuously decreasing and thus decreasing the amount of evaporation that is taking place. However, the Dead Sea may soon be unrecognizable as the great sea that it use to be.

So, what can be done in order to save the Dead Sea today?

Unfortunately, it is both unlikely and unrealistic to expect that the human consumption of the Jordan river is going to slow down at all. Fortunately though, there have been a lot of important steps taken in order to solve this problem. One such step took place in 2005 when Israel, Jordan and Palestine all came together to sign a document in which they agreed to study solutions to this problem. The main solution that they have come up with so far is the "Two Seas Canal". This is meant to channel water from both the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea in such a manner as to replenish the Dead Sea's water supply. An added benefit of this is that it will also be able to provide the area with hydroelectric power. However, there is also a downside and that downside is that there is the potential for the environment to be damaged and there may also be another shock to the saline level of the Dead Sea.