Efforts should be undertaken to get donor nations of the peace process to fund, through the World Bank, the capital investment for the establishment of a Dead Sea -Med Canal Project. The potential benefits of this project to provide all the parties in the region with economic, political and other respects are extremely significant. Not only will it replenish and revitalize the Dead Sea it will become the "live sea", potentially with millions of visiting tourists. It will generate substantial power and usable water and promote cooperation among the parties, thereby spurring the transformation of a barren and forbidding environment into the Jordan Valley of Peaceful coexistence.
The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project is a proposed project to dig a canal starting at the Israeli town of Ashdod from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, to take advantage of the more than 400-metre difference in water level between the two seas. Water from the Mediterranean Sea will be led through a tunnel and to a “green” hydroelectric power project which than can produce hundreds if not thousands of megawatts of clean and renewable electric energy. The value of such electric energy will be maximized by power generation during peak demand times. The excess electric power could be sold into the existing electrical grids to pay the cost of the Project.
There is a proposal, that in the construction of the Dead Sea -Med Canal Project, that an artificial storage reservoir for the flow from the tunnel, will be stored in this reservoir to be called “Shalom (Salaam/Peace) Lake”.
The area for this Lake /reservoir will be located in a natural basin on the south branch of Wadi Qumran. Utilizing soil from the tunnel boring an earthquake resistant dam can be constructed. This proposed reservoir/lake will potentially have a surface area of about 3 square kilometers and maximum depth at the dam of some 80 meters.
It is needless to say that the creation of such a beautiful marine lake merely twenty kilometers from Jerusalem, will serve as an impetuous for tourism and residential development. Surely the name, the Lake of Peace, is suitable for this setting and for the benefits it will bring the entire region.
The water brought in through the project will help to restore the Dead Sea to the desired level, and thereby reverse the erosion and subsistence that is presently destroying the area. Additionally the continued operation of the hydroelectric power plant will enable the development of additional desalination capacity to supply the water needs to help ease the chronic water shortages in the entire region.
The newly built desalination plants established by the new canal/tunnel system of the Dead Sea -Med Canal Project can provide water for potash mining operations and for aquaculture and agriculture. Desalinated water designated for irrigation of crops can be run through ponds for the production of fresh water fish and prawns. Med Sea water from the surface layer of the Dead Sea can be used for production of Sea Bass and Bream, and high value seaweed.
In addition to tall this we can use the daily tunnel flow to create a reservoir in the upper seabed formed when the Dead Sea was the same level as the Med Sea. This area is deep clay, and very suitable for a reservoir site. A desalination plant and towns for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees can be located near this lake.
Desalinated water, from a desalination plant placed on the north shore of the Dead Sea can be used for the restoration of the Jordan River and provide a source for irrigation of nearby farmlands. This would enable a huge increase in agriculture and industry in the valley, and will lead to many new needed jobs for the resettled Palestinian refugees and Jordanian citizens during construction as well as many permanent jobs, while abundantly available desalinated water will stimulate new investment in self-sustaining agriculture, fish farming, manufacturing and real estate development.
The Dead Sea ("Dead") continues to shrink at a very rapid rate. The diminishing water level has created large sink holes and disruption of underground water tables, among other problems, with a harmful effect on tourism and everyday life. With the construction of The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project, we can than replenish the Dead Sea water levels and thereby revitalize tourism and provide employment opportunities and secondary small businesses in the area. The unique Dead Sea environment, including the ability for people to float effortlessly, will be preserved in designated areas; returning the Dead to its desirable water level will reinvigorate hotels and other tourist facilities which are now far from the water’s edge.
So? When do we take the first step?
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