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Article: Breathing life into the Dead Sea; Plan to link seas offers benefits and risks to the environment.(WORLD)(BRIEFING: MIDDLE EAST)(Column)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- September 16, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Washington Times LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Jay Bushinsky, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
TEL AVIV -- A plan to connect the Red Sea and the Dead Sea could save one of the world's natural wonders and bring more water to parched cities and fields in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories - but at the cost of other environmental damage.
Overexploitation, a drop in inflows from the River Jordan, industrial use and evaporation have caused the Dead Sea level to drop about 75 feet since 1960; from 1998 to 2008, the shoreline receded by an average of 38 inches annually.
Water is a source of many of the Middle East's conflicts and is crucial to maintaining good relations between Israel and ...