Conflict Complicates Environmental Problems at the Dead Sea

International visitors to Israel used to visit Ein Gedi, a popular beach on the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is the place on Earth’s surface that is farthest below sea level.

Now, the beautiful desert area is in ruins beside the shrinking, salty lake.

The beach has been closed to the public for five years, mainly because of the appearance of dangerous holes in the ground. These holes, known as sinkholes, are caused by the collapse of the surface layer.

The beach has been closed because the drop in the sea's level has made it difficult to reach its waters.

These environmental changes are not new. The Dead Sea, where Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian territory meet, has been dying for years. With the current conflict in the Middle East, efforts to deal with the environmental problem have disappeared too.

Nadav Tal of the Israel office of Eco Peace, a non-profit group, told the French News Agency (AFP), "Regional cooperation is the key... to saving the Dead Sea." Tal added: "Because we are living in a conflict area, there is an obstacle." Tal described how the sea has been declining more than one meter per year since the 1960s.

Environmental disaster

The evaporation of the salty waters takes place partly because temperatures reach up to 50 degrees Celsius in the summer. The sea has also been affected by years of increasing water usage from the sea's main source, the Jordan River, and other smaller waterways which begin in Lebanon and Syria.

Local factories also use the water to get minerals -- potash, bromine, sodium chloride, and magnesium chloride, among others. Tal told AFP, "The consequences of this water diversion is what we see around us.”

He described it as an “ecological disaster," adding that "the declining of the Dead Sea is a disaster for Israeli tourism."

Call for joint efforts

Efforts to deal with the Dead Sea disaster include past agreements signed by Israel and Jordan. But the wars taking place in Gaza and beyond have brought tensions to an all-time high. As a result, cross-border environmental issues are no longer getting attention.

At Israel's environment ministry, Ohad Carny has been working on the Dead Sea issue for years. He said the government was looking into several solutions. They include building a desalination factory and making a canal from either the north or the south to deal with water shortages in the area including the Dead Sea. But, he said, "It doesn't make economic or environmental sense to desalinate water and bring it directly to the Dead Sea, because then it's a waste of drinking water and the region needs…more drinking water and more water for agriculture.”

Carny said that his attention was on the Israeli side. But he added, "We can't do it alone. It must be a joint effort. So only time will tell, and we won't do anything without an agreement together with the Jordanian side."

Back at the Dead Sea, 40-year-old bus driver Benny is at a place where people can still visit. Benny was getting some winter sun at one of the warm sinkhole pools.

He said the sea's changes were difficult. "But everything has a plus and minus. Because of what is happening here, we have water spots like this one."

I’m John Russell.

Ruth Eglash reported this story for Agence France-Presse (AFP). John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

regional – adj. of or relating to a geographic area distinguished by similar features

obstacle – n. something that slows progress or development; something that slows forward movement

decline –v. to decrease

consequences –n. (pl.) the results of an action or process

diversion – n. the act of turning from one course or use to another

evaporation –n. the process by which a liquid becomes a gas

desalination – n. the process of removing salt from water

canal – n. an artificial waterway for draining or irrigating land

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