Jordan, Israel, Palestinians To Launch Dead Sea Canal*

A map of the Dead Sea area. The project, if proven feasible, involves
the building of a small canal on the Red Sea between Jordan and Israel
and then pumping water to the Dead Sea through a 180-kilometer
(120-mile) pipe or several pipes.

Amman (AFP) Dec 05, 2006

Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority meet Sunday to launch a
feasibility study to build a canal linking the Red Sea to the slowly
vanishing Dead Sea, a Jordanian official said Tuesday. "Representatives
of Jordan, Israel, Palestine will meet on the shores of the Dead Sea
with representatives of the World Bank and countries willing to finance
the project," Jordanian water ministry spokesman Adnan Zohbi told AFP.

"They will examine the practical steps needed to launch the feasibility
study for the project," a year after agreeing to go ahead with the
study, Zohbi said.

Environmental experts have repeatedly warned that the Dead Sea is in
danger of drying up as Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians divert the
waters of the Jordan River, which feeds it, for agriculture.

The level of the Dead Sea, the world's lowest and most saline body of
water, has dropped by a third since the 1960s and continues to fall by
about a meter (more than three foot) a year.

The two-year study will cost about 15.5 million dollars, Zohbi said,
while the overall cost of the project is estimated at three billion dollars.

The feasibility study will investigate the social and environmental
impact of conveying large quantities of water through a 200-kilometer
(130-mile) conduit between the two seas.

The World Bank will manage a fund to finance the project.

The project, if proven feasible, involves the building of a small canal
on the Red Sea between Jordan and Israel and then pumping water to the
Dead Sea through a 180-kilometer (120-mile) pipe or several pipes.

Water from the Red Sea would be pumped to a power station and a
desalination plant in Jordan and the project would take about five years
to build, Jordanian official have said.

The idea for the project has been around for years, but stalled amid
tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

Source: Agence France-Presse