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The salt harvest...

At a good time, a correct decision was made about the need to "harvest" the layers of salt in the northern pool (5) to prevent the water level from continuing to rise, an increase that endangers the hotels and all the infrastructure on the shore of the pool

The Dead Sea - a view from space
The Dead Sea - a view from space

At a good time, a correct decision was made about the need to "harvest" the layers of salt in the northern pool (5) to prevent the water level from continuing to rise, a rise that endangers the hotels and all the infrastructure on the shore of the pool.
Now the battles will begin: who will pay for the harvest? Where will the salt be directed and how? Happily, the generally accepted way in the world that "the polluter pays" arose and to a certain extent was accepted, meaning that the cost of preventing the damage must be borne by the person who caused it, wherever the law and logic prevail, the conclusion is clear, the one who should bear the cost of removing the hazard - the salt is the one who caused the hazard, Dead Sea Enterprises / KIL,
But for some reason a logical, correct and acceptable move in the world is not necessarily what will happen in our environment. In the meantime, it turns out that the "factories" have an interest in building a conveyor belt that will remove the salt to the northern basin,
The construction of the conveyor belt will give the factories the operational basis for moving the water pumping station to the north, currently the evaporation ponds receive water through a canal that is fed by a pumping station located opposite (to the east) of Masada. Due to the drop in the water level in the northern basin, it is necessary to deepen the pumping site, hence the issue that KIL has to move the pumping station north to the area northeast of the mouth of Nahal Tzalim,
In addition to this, moving the pumping station to the north will allow the factories to develop another and larger evaporation pool than anything else, without getting confused, KIL spokespeople say that "this pool will allow the development of tourism establishments and hotels on its edge",
is that so? Hotels in an area where new sinkholes are opened every day? Do we really want a "wall" of hotels that will "bloom" between Nahal Mor and Nahal Tzalim? I am satisfied!

In order to reach a situation where tourism in the region will continue to thrive, to prevent further environmental damage and to repair to some extent the damage caused, I am returning to the basis of a proposal that was sent to you some time ago,

My proposal is based first of all on the principle of the polluter pays, which means that the entire cost of preventing the damage will be borne by the factories / KIL, and moreover, as I suggested previously, the repair of the damage will be the first step in addressing the drop in the water level in the northern basin.
The secondary justification for my proposal is that the Dead Sea factories made huge profits at the expense of causing irreparable environmental damage, and for that they are obligated to compensate when the compensation constitutes/causes a decrease in profits!

There is a fear of environmental damage from the conveyor belt that is supposed to be built to remove the harvested salt, and I argued that if it turns out that this is indeed necessary, the entire conveyor belt can be built on the dams along the current feed canal, for which it may be necessary to thicken the sides of the canal, if the material for thickening the sides arrives From the existing (large) dam, since as I suggested before, the northern pool (5) should be dried up - canceled and left only a lagoon that will launch into the hotel area. The lagoon will be the source of water supply for the southern evaporation ponds and of course the "wading" basin for the hotel island, therefore the lagoon will be 200-300 meters wide and along the entire tourist area, that is, a lagoon with a maximum depth of 2 meters, 200-300 meters wide, which will stretch between the estuary Nahal Zohar to the mouth of Nahal Mor.

The lagoon will be created by harvesting the salt (in the lagoon area only) to a depth of 2 meters on the eastern side, as you approach the west the depth will decrease to the current level. All other areas of pool 5 will be dried. The salt harvest will create a basin that is lower and deeper than the rest of the pool area (which will avoid the need for a separation dam). Harvesting only in the area that will become a lagoon will be in low quantities - about a tenth of the harvest in each pond 5 and therefore much cheaper. (The area of ​​the entire pond 5 is more than 70 square kilometers, the maximum area of ​​the proposed lagoon will not be more than 6 square kilometers)
The harvest rafts will start work 200-300 meters from the beach of the hotels
and advance westward, at least in the first stages it will be possible to evacuate the salt to the gap between the Jordanian dam and the Israeli dam, some of the evacuated salt will be washed away by floods in the Araba river. It may be possible to evacuate the harvested salt from the lagoon ... to the east, to the dried pool 5 area. It can be assumed that in many days there will be a use and there will be a demand for the harvested salts.
At the same time, you should try to coordinate the evacuation of the salt to the northern basin on top of the Jordan Dam, which will avoid the need for a conveyor belt. Since Pool 5 will dry up, there will be a basis to ask the Jordanians for parallel and similar activity, meaning that first the activity of the plants on the Israeli side will decrease, which will justify asking the Jordanians to lower the level of activity, a decrease that means less pumping from the northern basin, the first step to saving the Dead Sea.

It is possible that exposing an area covered with salt (white) the size of a pool 5, an area that will reflect / return the solar energy to the atmosphere will give KIL an opportunity to enter the DTP market)

It is clear to me that anyone who puts the common good first will understand that the above proposal is the right and proper one, it is not a case of the good of the environment kissing the good of the public. It is clear that the factories / KIL will oppose.... It is not clear to me if those in power are able to act in the public's interest, the public that elected the people in power must press and back up, the people in power must act in the interest of their constituents.

All of this does not solve the damages caused in the southern basin: the flooding of the Naot Hekhar salinity, the flooding of Highway 90 along (to the east) of Mount Sodom, the flooding of the old labor camp, the flooding of the access to the caves on Mount Sodom, the flooding caused by the rise in the water level in the evaporation ponds, the increase due to the deposition of salt in the bottom !

The PM is presented as a proposal for action. It is appropriate that those who have the power and authority should consider and consider, those who have the power to generate public pressure should act and it is hoped that this will be the beginning of the way to save the natural environment of the Dead Sea.
——–

The above was sent in wide circulation to everyone who I thought had a hand and a leg or an opinion on the matter in the hope that there would be those who served in the struggle for the benefit of the Dead Sea environment, for the benefit of tourism in the Dead Sea, for the benefit of the public.

12 תגובות

  1. Engravings should be engraved along the entire length of the salt blocks as much as possible. The water will enter the grooves and the level will drop temporarily for a few years and come to Zion Goel Rezon temporarily.

  2. It is also possible to build the Temple and use salt for sacrifices and offerings. It's almost as good as Shakshuka.

  3. Abby, the writer in front of you meant the satellite image where the green line appears. In my humble opinion, Shimi from Ramat Gan is right - this is a scientific and not a political website, I'm sure there are other successful photos of the Dead Sea

  4. Can you see the green line from space? Is this a scientific or political site? Or maybe political in a scientific guise?…

  5. The question arises, what is the value of such articles?
    So here is an answer,
    The restoration of the Carmel
    After the fire in Carmel, I wrote my recommendations to all concerned
    https://www.hayadan.org.il/recover-the-carmel-forest-1112104/
    I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this should be the way
    That's why I was happy to see that my recommendations were accepted
    http://www.sviva.gov.il/Enviroment/bin/en.jsp?enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=Object&enDispWho=News^l5636&enZone=news
    -———————-
    In the past, a list dealing with the Samar Dune was published on the website
    and in it a proposal for an exchange source for sand,
    https://www.hayadan.org.il/semer-dunes-0602113/
    (fourth paragraph),
    To my delight and to the delight of many others "the wheel has turned" who deal with the issue
    Willing to test the possibility of using the "sand mountains" that were visible from the copper mines in Timna,
    -———
    Two successes that show that there is a reward for activity for the environment,
    Two successes that give hope to the environment!

  6. Why not immediately use salt harvested from the bottom of the sea?
    It already exists, so you don't need to invest money in its production.

  7. An interesting proposal and I find sense in many parts of it.
    What really sounds strange to me is that there is no use for this salt and that it cannot be sold.
    Of course, it is appropriate that the cause of the damage should pay for the damage it caused, and I suggest that, apart from him, everyone who has a hand and a leg in reaping profits from the area of ​​Pool No. 5, and this includes the factories, hotels and the State of Israel, which benefits from taxation, in proportion to the economic profit, that they participate in the removal of the hazard.

    I don't know how sensible it is to put the salt on land from where it will be washed away by streams or rains. All in all, this is Dead Sea salt and its place is probably inside the Dead Sea. Therefore, the most logical thing in my opinion is to transfer the harvested salt to the northern basin and dump it in the deep points in the Dead Sea. This is of course assuming that there are no buyers and there is no use of such salt. And when I say buyers, I mean even those who are willing to take it at the price of its production cost - ZA without making a profit on it at all.

    Greetings friends,
    Ami Bachar

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