The Dead Sea, a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west, is reportedly shrinking at an alarming rate. According to reports, the lake is shrinking by about 3.3 feet per year due to water resources being diverted from it for the use of a pipeline to supply water to Israel. Another reason it's losing water is mineral extraction. Minerals from the Dead Sea are often used in cosmetics and other products.
The Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34.2 percent salinity (in 2011), it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean, and one of the world's saltiest bodies of water. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River.
Dead Sea Is Dying Out, Receives Rescue By Swimmers And Organizations
"It's not just like one country is punishing the Dead Sea; it's more like the whole region," said photographer Moritz Küstner, who visited the area in February to work on his series "The Dying Dead Sea." According to CNN, the Dead Sea needs water from the other natural sources surrounding it, such as the Jordan River basin. But around the 1960s, some of the water sources it relied upon were diverted.
In 2015, Israel and Jordan signed a $900-million dollar deal. It entails building a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea so that both countries would be able to not only supply water to Israel and Jordan but also to pump much-needed water, into the Dead Sea. "This is the most important and significant agreement since the peace treaty with Jordan (in 1994)," said Silvan Shalom, Israel's energy and water resources minister at the time.
As per AOL News, a group of marathon swimmers recently swam a stretch of the Dead Sea to bring awareness to the falling water levels. They wore protective face masks, but one still said the water was like acid burning your eyeballs. "We're here for the first ever the Dead Sea swim challenge with 25 swimmers from all over the world to send out a clear message to save the Dead Sea," said Samuel Moran, a Spanish swimmer.
