The opinions of the Dead Sea - an attempt to offer a solution

This letter was sent to the Dead Sea Enterprises, the Water Authority, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Tamar Regional Council

The northern basin of the Dead Sea is drying up with two main factors for the drying up:
1 - Stopping the flow of the Jordan River due to its closure in Dagenia, to allow the use of Kinneret water in Israel (and Jordan).
2 - Increased pumping to the evaporation ponds in the southern basin for the purpose of mineral extraction.

To this day I have attacked and criticized the idea of ​​the Sea Canal from the Gulf of Eilat when my opposition (and the opposition of anyone who cares about the environment) was mainly due to the dangers of harming the natural environment along the proposed pipeline, as well as the knowledge that the project will cause a significant change in the composition of the water in the Dead Sea: the appearance of a gypsum "mattress" white and intermittent red algae blooms that will color the water red. It's time (maybe even already late) to try and see what can be done to save the dying sea.

I will go ahead and state that I do not have the appropriate skills for energy investment calculations or for calculating the cost of industrial processes that are proposed later. In the following lines there is no intention to find a source of energy supply or benign water but only to try and give a little chance to a body of water that is disappearing.

It is clear that the first and most important step is to pour water into the Dead Sea and to do this the proposal came up
To flow water from the Mediterranean Sea, list here: https://www.hayadan.org.il/1108093/
In essence, the intention is to flow water to the Dead Sea through the Jordan Channel, which today is almost dry, the entrepreneurs are talking about electricity production and water desalination. I think this is a secondary goal. It is worth remembering that the Dead Sea is a remnant of the "Lake of the Tongue" that existed until about twenty thousand years ago and that in the past it was connected to the Mediterranean Sea so that even if the concentration of minerals is different - the composition of the water is similar and therefore it can be assumed that such an influx will not cause "strange" phenomena.
The supply of drinking water in Israel relies more and more on desalination, according to water authorities. Therefore, it would be correct to free the country from dependence on the Kinneret water and switch to desalinated water for domestic use and desalinated water (purified sewage water) for most other needs: agriculture, industry, revitalization of disturbed streams, etc. This way (and only this way) will it be possible to open the Degania Dam and let the Jordan flow.
Both solutions are needed: opening the dam and a canal from the Mediterranean Sea, since only one of the solutions will not provide enough water to raise the level. Assuming that the above proposal will be carried out, a solution will be given to one of the causes of drying.
The second factor remains - the production of minerals by the evaporation of water in the southern basin.
Today everyone knows that salt sinks in the evaporation ponds, because of the sinking the water level in the ponds rises in a way that endangers the hotels facing the northern pond (5), cooking salt (sodium chloride) is the first mineral that crystallizes and sinks to the bottom of the ponds. In the past I referred to the deposition of salt in the southern evaporation ponds https://www.hayadan.org.il/salt-plane-220312/. If I was accurate I should have written that in the southern pools there is a constant sedimentation of minerals, that is, various minerals that are of economic value. These minerals are extracted later in the process by drying the "mushy soup" whose professional name is carnelite. The drying and separation of the minerals is done in industrial ovens.

At the beginning of the process, the sun is used for drying, and at the end, energy derived from mineral fuel is invested. That means today mineral fuel is used three times: once to pump the water to the evaporation ponds, once again to pump (harvest) the carnelite to the factory and once again to dry the carnelite and separate the different minerals. That is, at least in three stages there is a lot of use of energy produced from mineral fuel (not as advertised in KIL publications that "the source of energy for the production of minerals is the sun"). Let us remind you that there is a decision (when will it be implemented?) to harvest the salt in pool 5. Today, water is being pumped from the northern basin to the northern evaporation pools that were closed in 1964 (on the shore of the large pool where - pool 5 - most of the hotels are concentrated). From pool 5, the water is gradually pumped to the southern pools where the concentration of minerals increases until the stage where they turn into a "thick soup" (kernelite) that is pumped to a final drying plant.
During the stay of the water in the southern steam pools, minerals of industrial value also sink to the bottom. The same minerals that are extracted in the final process, the same "salt plain" that I referred to in a previous list (the link above) is rich in very valuable minerals. Therefore, in my opinion, we must begin to mine the mineral layers that sank in the southern pools and extract from them the products that are now extracted directly from the water. In the first phase, water will stop flowing into the southern (small) evaporation ponds until they dry up, and then it will be possible to mine the mineral layers that have sunk to the bottom of the ponds over the last eighty years, for the purpose of production, brackish water will be needed. Even today, factories use water that is pumped from dozens of wells that are located at the foot of the Cliff of the Copies. This water will be used to dissolve and separate the minerals.

And here comes the idea that there might be those who say it is "illusory": the separation of the minerals from the water in which they were dissolved will not be by drying or evaporation but by filtration. In all water desalination plants in Israel, water is desalinated using a method called "reverse osmosis". In simple words, the water is filtered through filters that prevent the passage of salts, I propose to apply the same process for the extraction of the minerals, by dissolving, filtering and extracting the mineral layers in the (southern) evaporation ponds.
It is assumed that this process will continue for many years, during which the process will be developed and perfected. We will add that the drying of the southern ponds will prevent the continued salting of the agricultural fields of the moshavim Naot HaKar and Ein Tamar, will prevent the danger of flooding to Route 90 and the old workers' camp, as well as the danger of flooding to the industrial plant.
Simultaneously with the mining of the minerals from the southern pools, the application of the filtration process will begin as the form of production from the northern basin water that will be flowed from pool 5 directly to the plant. Water will be pumped from the northern basin through pool 5 directly to the "filtration plant". After filtering the minerals, the (filtered) water will be returned to the northern basin.

If the extraction of the minerals is carried out in this way, the loss of water due to the extraction activity will be minimal since at the end of the process most of the water will flow back to the northern basin. It is worth noting that Israeli-Jordanian cooperation will be necessary for the two plants to switch to the filtration method instead of evaporation and drying, since the Jordanians copied the work and production methods from the Israeli side. And since the Jordanians also have an interest in preserving the Dead Sea, it can be assumed that there will be no problem in cooperation, that is, in copying the filtering method on the Jordanian side as well.

In conclusion:
If you want to save the dying sea:
A - It is necessary to renew the flow in Jordan and intensify it by adding water that will come from the Mediterranean Sea.
B - The Dead Sea factories on both sides of the border must switch to a production method that will not detract from the amount of water in the northern basin. The method exists and must be adapted to the special conditions of the Dead Sea water.

And again, I don't have the skills for cost calculations, but anyone who calculates costs must calculate the total value of the Dead Sea: environmental, social, touristic, historical and traditional. I believe that such a calculation will show that the above proposal is not illusory and can be carried out for the purpose of saving the dying sea.
We caused it to die, we are committed to resuscitation.