Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

ISRAEL-JORDAN: Environmentalists oppose Red-Dead canal pilot project
07 Jul 2009 10:39:27 GMT
 Source: IRIN
TEL AVIV, 7 July 2009 (IRIN) - A number of environmentalists are opposed to the start of a pilot project to bring water from the Red to the Dead Sea, saying the World Bank feasibility study on the Red-Dead Water Conveyance Programme was due to be finalized only in 2011.

"Beginning the pilot project in the midst of a feasibility study is completely unacceptable,'' Mira Edelstein of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME), a group of Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists, told IRIN.

FOEME and others believe more detailed studies are needed.

Nitzan Horwitz, a member of the Israeli parliament and chairman of the Lobby to save the Dead Sea, said in a statement: "We call on the government of Israel to halt actions on the Red-Dead Canal until the feasibility study is completed and all possible effects - economic, social and environmental - are examined... We call for further examination of alternative solutions for saving the Dead Sea."

The rumpus came about after Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom announced a pilot project on 28 June: Some 200 million cubic metres (mcm) of water would be pumped out of the Red Sea of which 100 mcm would be diverted into the Dead Sea and 100 mcm would be used by desalination plants.

Pipeline crosses seismic risk zone

The Red-Dead project envisages a 180km pipeline running from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, pumping some 1.8 billion cubic metres of water annually from the Red Sea. Of this, 800 mcm would be desalinated for drinking water for Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, and one billion cubic metres a year would be pumped into the Dead Sea, which has been rapidly drying up in recent decades.

The Red Sea - Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Programme involves Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority and is being managed by the World Bank.

However, some scientists, like Eli Raz from the Dead Sea and Arava Science Centre, say two years is too short a time for the World Bank study.

Massive pumping from the narrow edge of the Gulf of Aqaba might change its ecosystem, and the pipeline route runs over an active seismic area, posing a risk in terms of soil and aquifer contamination by sea water leakage, according to Raz. 

Raz and others point to studies which indicate mixing sea water with Dead Sea water might cause negative limnological and microbiological impacts, resulting in considerable damage to industry and tourism.

td/at/cb

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Water

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  New Wells in Niger Improve Community Health
ADRA - International

•  UMCOR Hotline for June 30, 2009
UMCOR - USA

•  Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in despair
ICRC - Switzerland

•  On six month anniversary of Gaza bombardment ActionAid calls for lifting of Israel's blockade
ActionAid

•  Pakistan: Oxfam in Yar Hussain camp
Oxfam GB - UK

MORE >>

Latest news

•  FACTBOX-Arab steps U.S. seeks in Israeli settlement dispute

•  FACTBOX-El Nino "boy child" developing slowly

•  Israel releases former U.S. congresswoman - group

•  Israel's Barak sees progress in US envoy talks

•  Reefs could perish by end of century, experts warn

MORE >>

IRIN news

Background information

Topics
Water
Facts & figures
Jordan Israel

Related articles

Breaking stories
 FACTBOX-Arab steps U.S. seeks in Israeli settlement dispute (1 minute ago)

FACTBOX-El Nino "boy child" developing slowly (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 Obama's first 100 days: Key humanitarian issues (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 New Wells in Niger Improve Community Health (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Sri Lanka's 'forgotten' city poor need help too (1 minute ago)

Maps
 Bangladesh - Khulna District - TC Aila - Areas Affected with Surface Water as of May 27th, 2009 (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-02T202211Z_01_SJS09_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-GAZA-AMNESTY_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SJS09.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-02T194939Z_01_SJS07_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-GAZA-AMNESTY_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SJS07.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-02T194335Z_01_SJS05_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-GAZA-AMNESTY_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SJS05.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-02T163426Z_01_SZH11_RTRIDSP_2_AFGHANISTAN_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SZH11.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-02T161901Z_01_SZH22_RTRIDSP_2_AFGHANISTAN_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SZH22.htm

A Palestinian boy sits near houses damaged during the three-week offensive Israel launched last December, in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip July 2, 2009. Amnesty International said on Thursday Israel ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Tue Jul 7 10:39:40 2009