Better Red Than Dead
Tonight I read an article in the June 2009 edition of GEO magazine entitled "Peut-on ressusciter la mer Morte?" "Can we resuscitate the Dead Sea?" Before I get into my thoughts regarding the subject let me put in an advert for this French magazine. It is well written, heavily flavoured with cultural interests from around the world and explores corners of the world that are far removed from the typical tourist spots. Great mag....but you have to be able to read French.
Anyhow.....Better Red Than Dead.
The Dead Sea is evaporating at a rate of one to one-point-five metre per year. That fact in and of itself made the article worth reading for me - that is a staggering amount. The area this sea sits in gets 330 days of sunshine a year. Needless to say it is hot and consequently evaporation causes some of the problem. But the main problem seems to be man's insatiable need for water for survival. Not only basic survival water - a need to drink - but also its need to eat.
Food and the demand for it around the world, caused by the never-ending growth of our planet's population, seems to be the main culprit. Three reasons:
1) Man is growing fruits and vegetables in the desert. Yep...wealthy Europeans that want fruits and vegetables year round get some of their "fresh" produce from this area. So irrigation.
2) Fertilizers make use of potash. Fertilizer is needed to help grow the food that the Earth's population needs. Two massive plants (one in Israel, the other in Jordan) that produce potash are contributing to a very large part of the one metre fall in water levels every year.
3) Irrigation. The Jordan River, like the Colorado River in the United States is dammed and controlled to such an extent that only a trickle now reaches the Dead Sea. The Jordan happens to be the only natural source for the Dead Sea. The water of the Jordan goes to irrigate fields and provide drinking water.
So this is an environmental disaster. And to fix this humankind may be embarking on a mammoth $8 billion mega project. The plan is to build a 150 km or so canal to connect the higher Red Sea to the lower Dead Sea. The idea is that the water will replenish the Dead Sea. The descending current would be used to generate hydroelectric power which in turn would power desalination plants that in turn would provide drinking water and water for irrigation. Yep...man can solve all problems eh? Just a bit of ingenuity.
Send Red Sea water (salty, sea water that is connected to all of the world's oceans) into a "Sea" whose only water source is a fresh water river. Build tunnels through mountain and dessert to carry this water. Build hydro plants to create more power to allow more land to be farmed and irrigated. To allow yet more people to move and exploit an area of the world that is already under intense pressure. What new organisms might be introduced to the Dead Sea. What about the chemical and mineral balance of the Sea.
Better would be to try and get the Jordan River to flow again. To reduce our dependence on foreign food sources. To reduce our use of artificial fertilizers. Yes, the world needs to be fed. I don't deny that. But we should not be investing $8 billion to cause yet another problem. Short term thinking rules again.
Better keep the Red to itself and let the Dead die than mess up the world even more.
Comments