Harvest time has come

The National Committee for the Planning and Construction of National Infrastructures (VTL) asked and determined that the project will be launched, and millions of tons of salt will be buried in the northern part of the salt lake using a conveyor belt

Ben Yishai Danieli, Angle - news agency for science and the environment

"Create a salt ski resort"; "Sell the salt to countries that have a lot of snow"; "Since the Dead Sea is drying up, you can pour the salt into the Mediterranean Sea and turn it into the Dead Sea." These are some of the creative suggestions offered by the public a year ago, in response to a question from the Ministry of the Interior - what to do with the 20 million tons of salt that will be harvested from the southern part of the Dead Sea every year. Despite the creativity, this week the National Committee for Planning and Construction of National Infrastructures (VTL) decided on the question and stated that the project will go ahead, and millions of tons of salt will be buried in the northern part of the salt lake.

Thus came to an end the long negotiation regarding finding a solution to the rise of sea water in the southern part of the Dead Sea, as a direct result of the potash production activity by the Dead Sea plants. This increase threatened to damage the many hotels on the southern shore of the sea, and also the thriving potash industry. The Dead Sea factories, which financed the salt harvest, will have several decades of grace in which they can continue to produce the precious resource. But how will the entire Dead Sea be affected by the move, and who will pay for all this? More on that later.

The north goes down, the south goes up
The Dead Sea is a geographical and cultural asset. This is the deepest continental depression on Earth (the depth of its bottom is 730 meters below the level of the Mediterranean Sea), and along its shores there have been prosperous civilizations for thousands of years that have left behind rare archaeological findings - Masada and Qumran caves are some of them. On the shores of the salt lake are unique natural sites and sensitive ecosystems that include rare animals and plants.

The level of the Dead Sea has indeed known natural rises and falls of hundreds of meters in the last millions of years, as a result of geological and climatic processes. But in the last hundred years the water level in the salt lake is rapidly decreasing as a direct result of the activity of one factor - man.

There are two reasons for the drop in the level: the first, and the main one, is the diversion of water from the lake's basin, or in simple words - the use by Israel, Jordan and Syria of fresh water that naturally flowed in streams to the Dead Sea and filled it. While we enjoy clean drinking water, a billion cubic meters of fresh water are drawn a year from the dead water. The second and secondary reason is the utilization of Dead Sea water for the production of potash: the Dead Sea plants, located in the southern basin of the sea, pump water from the northern basin of the Dead Sea into evaporation ponds, where the water evaporates and the precious mineral sinks and is harvested. The pumping subtracts from the northern basin an additional 250 million cubic meters of water per year, and at the same time a 20 cm layer of salt sinks in the southern basin, and the seawater in it rises accordingly.

If so, the picture of the situation of the Dead Sea today is this: the northern basin, where the Jordan and other streams used to flow, is getting empty, and its level is dropping at a rate of one meter per year. This caused the appearance of sinkholes on the shores of the lake and the destruction of roads, nature reserves, tourist facilities and plantations. At the same time, the water level in the southern part of the Dead Sea is only rising, at a rate of 20 cm per year, as a result of the sedimentation of the salt on the bottom, which endangers the hotels on its shores - so much so that earthen embankments have been erected to protect them. It was this situation that prompted the authorities to act to find solutions.

Charcoal is burned to transport salt

The decision makers were faced with two options - or in the professional language, alternatives - to resolve the situation. The first is to simply destroy the hotels in the southern part of the Dead Sea that are in danger of flooding and move them back, to a higher and safer place. This is a one-stop solution, fast and relatively cheap. However, the relocation of the hotels will encroach on precious open areas, and there is no assurance that in the future, the sea water will not endanger the hotels in their new location. Moreover; In order to protect the hotels, it will be necessary to raise the earthen embankments that protect them, and for this it will be necessary to mine a lot of material from the land of the Judean Desert.

The second alternative, which was eventually adopted by the planning authorities and approved this week, is the alternative of harvesting the salt. This is a long-term and integrated solution, in which the salt will be transported from the southern basin via a conveyor belt to the northern basin. The solution should satisfy everyone: the water level in the southern basin will stop falling and the activity of the Dead Sea factories will not be affected; The hotels will remain in their current location and will be able to function as usual; And moving the salt to the northern basin might even help somewhat in stabilizing its level.

The salt harvesting solution may stop the damage to tourism and industry, but it creates new environmental and economic challenges. First, the construction of the conveyor belt is expected to cross the Nahal Tzalim stream, and may damage it. A hint of this can be found in the fact that, as part of the plan, Dead Sea Industries was approved to build a new pumping station north of Nahal Tzalim. Second, according to estimates. The harvesting of salt involves a huge investment of electrical energy - an addition of half a percent to the energy consumption of the State of Israel, and the emission of 130,000 tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year. This is a move that will cause increased emissions of greenhouse gases, and carries with it significant financial costs, especially in light of Israel's commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2030.

A journey from water to sea
In accordance with the government's decision from 2012, this week the National Committee for Planning and Construction of National Infrastructures (VTL) approved the plan to harvest the salt in the southern basin. As mentioned, this is a plan whose costs are not negligible, and whose biggest beneficiaries will be first and foremost the Dead Sea factories and the nearby hotels. And who will pay for all this? The total cost of the project is NIS 3.8 billion, for a full harvest of all the salt. The Dead Sea factories will bear 80 percent of the expenses, which are NIS 3.04 billion, and in addition, at the request of the state, the royalties it receives from the factories will increase by ten percent.

And what about the northern part of the Dead Sea? Today, the state is taking specific actions to treat the groundwater in the affected area and to regulate the damaged infrastructure, centered on Highway 90. However, it seems that a real treatment of the water level problem will only come in the form of regional cooperation, which will allow water to flow to the northern part of the sea.

About a month ago, Israel and Jordan published a tender for the operation of the Canal of the Seas - a conduit from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, through which water will pass that will be desalinated for the residents of Jordan, the Negev and the Arabah, and the excess will flow to the northern part of the Dead Sea. Even such a move, the cost of which is estimated at NIS 4 billion, could have severe environmental consequences: this process will bring the Dead Sea together, for the first time in millions of years, with sea water, and over time will lead to a change in the water's unique geochemical composition. This could severely damage the delicate ecosystem, and also the factories' ability to extract potash from the salty seawater.

Despite the plan's exit to the final stage (it has now been submitted for government approval), the battle for the future of the Dead Sea is far from certain. One thing is clear: without intervention, the Dead Sea will continue to disappear, and with it one of the greatest assets of Israel and the world will be lost.

On the same topic on the science site

The polluter pays - for public relations instead of repairing the damage

The Dead Sea - an attempt to offer a solution

The State Comptroller exposes the Dead Sea failures