Dead Sea Water Level
The receding water level of the Dead Sea in recent decades derives from the drastic reduction in the quantity of water entering it. Water which used to flow into the Dead Sea in the past has since been damned and diverted upstream by Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, and used for drinking, domestic use and agriculture.
In recent years the water level has been receding at an average annual rate of about 110 cm. The receding water level causes the exposure of large areas that were once underwater, the forming of sinkholes that undermine the soil stability in the region and the erosion of the courses of streams draining into the Dead Sea.
However, since the 1960s, with the construction of the National Water Carrier of Israel, the quantity of water entering the Dead Sea has decreased significantly. This decrease is primarily due to increased utilization of the Jordan River’s water and its sources by Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon and Syria for drinking, domestic use and agricultural purposes. About 50 dams have been constructed in the various drainage basins, in Jordan and in Syria, in order to utilize the water of rivers and streams that used to feed the Dead Sea. Reservoirs, designed to capture flood water for human usage, have also been constructed in the Arava region’s drainage basin area. The quantity of water evaporating from the Dead Sea, including from its southern basin, currently used for mineral extraction, has remained nearly constant since the 1990s (the southern basin is the Dead Sea part which is located south of the Lisan Peninsula). However, the result of the significant decrease in the inflowing quantity is an accelerated decrease in the Dead Sea’s water level over the last three decades.
…the accelerated rate of receding water levels in the Dead Sea over the last few decades stems from the decline in the quantity of runoff water flowing into the Dead Sea in winter months, and is not a result of increased activity of the potash plants during the summer months or of direct evaporation from the lake’s surface. Causes of the accelerated rate of receding water levels in the Dead Sea over the last few decades [HEBREW] –Geological Survey of Israel
The extraction of minerals by ICL Dead Sea is made possible through a process of natural water evaporation, carried out in the evaporation ponds in the southern basin. While other factors prevent the flow of water upstream, before reaching the northern basin, ICL Dead Sea pumps water from the northern basin and channels it into the southern basin. Minerals and various raw materials are then extracted in the evaporation ponds, including Potash, Magnesium, Bromine and Chlorine. Potash is a critical and essential material for global agriculture, and for ensuring the food security of the world’s growing population.
The mineral extraction and production process used by ICL Dead Sea is among the most efficient in the world, thanks to the combination of the high concentration of minerals in the water, the natural evaporation process based on solar energy, and the copious know-how accumulated in the company. The evaporation process provides a significant share of the energy required for extracting the minerals, and therefore ICL Dead Sea’s extraction process consumes less fossil fuels in comparison to similar industries around the world. Thus, ICL Dead Sea benefits both from a competitive advantage and from the advantage stemming from lower GHG emission levels as compared to other extraction processes.
ICL Dead Sea’s depletion of water is constant, and has not materially changed since the early 1990s.
ICL Dead Sea pumps water from the Dead Sea and, after extraction of the minerals, re-channels the remaining water back into the northern basin. The difference between the quantity of water pumped out by ICL Dead Sea and the quantity returned to the northern basin is fairly consistent and amounts to approx. 160 million cubic meters a year. The water quantity evaporating through the process, directly depends on the surface area of the evaporation ponds. As the surface area of the ponds is fixed, the rate of evaporation is also quite constant. The variance in water pumping scopes between years derives mainly from weather changes (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and inflow of flood water into the ponds, etc.)
For example, in 2018, approx. 430 million cubic meters were pumped from the northern basin into the evaporation ponds in the southern basin. Of that quantity, approx. 270 million cubic meters were re-channeled back into the northern basin after completion of the mineral extraction process. Hence, the net impact of ICL Dead Sea on the depletion of water in the Dead Sea amounted to approx. 160 million cubic meters.
An annual decline of about 85 cm in the dead sea level will continue even if ICL’s industrial operations in the Southern basin are completely halted, and at the cost of drying up the southern basin where, among other things, the dead sea hotels are located.
In the current situation, ICL Dead Sea’s share in the Dead Sea’s annual water depletion is about 23% (160 million cubic meters evaporation, out of 700 million cubic meters total depletion of the northern basin). In case ICL Dead Sea was to cease its operations, the sea level would have receded by 0.85 meters a year instead of 1.1 meters a year, as the natural evaporation occurring in the northern basin is the main cause of water loss in the Dead Sea.
However, this explanation is limited, as it reflects only the current state of the water balance, and excludes the impact of the most significant factors driving the Dead Sea water deficit – the various countries, including Israel, that prevent the flow of water into the Sea and use the water upstream for drinking, agriculture and other domestic uses (see illustration below). These factors are responsible for the utilization of approximately 1,400 million cubic meters a year, which used to flow into the Dead Sea and have ceased flowing therein for decades. Adding to that the annual depletion caused by the chemical industries – both Israeli and Jordanian – operating in the Dead Sea basin (approx. 280 million cubic meters), this results in an annual deficit of 1,700 million cubic meters. ICL Dead Sea’s share in this deficit is only 9%.
The Dead Sea water level will continue to recede even if ICL Dead Sea’s industrial activity in the southern basin is completely halted, since the inflow of water that flowed into the Dead Sea in the past has almost completely ceased. Even ambitious plans to renew the flow of water into the Dead Sea, through channeling water from the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea are only expected to slow the current process, rather than prevent it altogether.
The channeling of water into the southern basin of the Dead Sea allows the existence of the two main industries in the region – mineral extraction and tourism.
It is also important to note that ICL Dead Sea’s channeling of water to the Southern basin also constitutes a lifeline for the thriving tourism industry in the region, which developed on the banks of ICL’s evaporation ponds in the southern basin. Had ICL ceased its activities, the southern basin would have dried out completely, with all the implications that this would have on the tourism activities on the Israeli side at the banks of ICL Dead Sea’s ponds. The steady water level maintained in these ponds allows the existence of the hotel and tourism industry. Conversely, hotels cannot viably exist on the Northern basin shores, due to the presence of sinkholes and other vulnerabilities caused by the effects of the receding sea level. As a result, feasible solutions to mitigate the receding sea level must also allow the continued activity of these two leading industries, whose co-existence, side by side, at the banks of the southern basin of the Dead Sea, are a prerequisite for the development of the entire region.
The southern basin is, therefore, characterized by an interdependent system between four elements, which reflect a complex relationship of dependence and mutual contribution – industry, tourism, settlement, environment.”
Conclusions of the 'Naveh Committee'
In Israel, the concession that was granted to ICL by the government to utilize the resources of the Dead Sea, ends during 2030. In January 2019, the Israeli Ministry of Finance released the final report of the inter-ministry team (The "Naveh Committee"), which reviewed the Israeli governmental actions required in preparation for the expiration of the Dead Sea concession period in 2030.
One of the main conclusions included in the report, was that the extraction of resources from the Dead Sea carries great and substantial benefits to the Israeli economy as a whole and to southern Israel in particular. In light of this, and subject to the government’s comprehensive policy respecting the Dead Sea, the committee recommended continuing extraction of resources from the Dead Sea. This, while taking measures designed to restrict the scope of the plants’ negative environmental impact.
Read more on the guidelines and recommendations included in the final report here.
The Two Seas Canal – Does It Provide a Solution for the Dead Sea’s Receding Level?
One of the options discussed as a potential solution of the Dead Sea’s receding water level is the channeling of water into the Dead Sea from the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea. This option has been discussed for many years by various regional and international entities. These initiatives are known to the general public as the “Two Seas Canal”.
Between 2008 and 2015 a feasibility study was conducted by the World Bank for the countries bordering the Dead Sea (Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority), with the participation of Israeli researchers and researchers from all around the world. The feasibility study examined the possibility of channeling water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea and its effects on the Red Sea, the Arava region and the Dead Sea. The Geological Survey of Israel examined for the Bank several options of inflow volumes into the Dead Sea and their effect on the Sea. The main findings indicate that an inflow of up to 400 million cubic meters a year is not expected to cause material adverse environmental effects. However, the inflow of larger quantities could cause stratification and thereby alter the chemical composition of the Sea, with all consequent implications. It should be noted that an inflow at such a volume (of up to 400 million cubic meters) could, at best, slightly moderate the rate of water level decrease.
Currently, the alternative that is being considered is that of a pipeline for the inflow of approx. 250 million cubic meters a year. The inflow of water volumes at this scope is expected to moderate the decrease in water levels at a rate of about 35 cm per year. This means that water levels will still continue to decline at an annual rate of approx. 0.75 meters.
For additional information regarding the “Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance”, see the Israeli Water Authority website.
