SEA OFF

The Dead Sea is a lake that lies on the region between Israel, the Palestinian Authority area and Jordan. Covering an area of approximately 810 km2 and its area is at a height of 417.5 m below sea level which is the lowest point on the surface of the earth. Sea water salinity in the earth's surface varies between 2 to 4% while the salinity of the Dead Sea is 27.5%. No fish and sea grass that can survive in such conditions, this is the reason why his name is called the Dead Sea. But in reality, however, the Dead Sea, is not really dead, several types of such microscopic plankton Organism, bacteria and halophilic Halobacteria and others could live here.

Millions of years of evaporation have caused the Dead Sea is more salty and more dense than sea or ocean in this world and the salt concentration of more than eight times from the sea and the ocean is the salt concentration reaches 330-340 grams per liter of seawater.

In some areas of the Dead Sea, as in the south of the basin is a shallow area of water evaporation is highest in the region srhingga amount of dissolved salts and reach saturation point and crystallizes, and today is estimated at 44 billion ton.

Water from the Dead Sea garammya concentration is very different from the normal sea salinity others. Magnesium Chloride and Sodium Chloride is a major component of the Dead Sea water is rich in minerals, which is believed to cure rheumatism and estoeporosis. The density of water from the Dead Sea is 1240 kg.m3 so that people can float without any problems on the surface of the water.

Rainfall decline started there were about 40 000 years ago, has resulted in very high evaporation. In the last fifty years, the Dead Sea has lost a third of its territory. Cause other than the very high evaporation of 300 million cubic meters of water annually, is also due to increased exploitation of the Jordan River, which is the only source of fresh water that flows into the Dead Sea.

One solution is to make a canal from the Dead Sea (called "peace line"), to the Red Sea, a distance of approximately 180 kilometers. This solution was conceived in 1902 by Theodor Herzl, but kanalnya made from Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and the distance is closer. The making of this canal was already planned several times, one of the underground channels projects, the first stone laying by Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel's prime minister, but the project was suspended and abandoned the idea of making kanal in 1985.

After that in 1993, making the plan a canal project was started up again with the involvement of the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. The plan is to pump water from the Red Sea to the mountains near the height of the Gulf of Aqaba location is 600 meters above the Dead Sea. Namely by creating a channel along the 184 km, where the channel or canal along the 134 km is entering Jordanian territory. But some environmental organizations are serious doubts about this solution, even fear a negative impact on ecosystems.