Red-Dead project progress for discussion in November

Stakeholders in the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Programme will discuss the progress of five feasibility studies at a meeting in November 2010.

The Jordan Times reports Jordan Valley Authority Secretary General Saad Abu Hamour as saying on 16 August 2010, “During the meeting, the steering committee will discuss the progress of the feasibility study and environmental and social impact assessment.”

The project, which is one of the topics for discussion at the European Desalination Society’s EuroMed conference in Israel in early October, seeks to pump 1,000 million m³ of water annually, with the aim of raising water levels in the shrinking lake from 408 m to 315 m below sea level.

The feasibility study and the environmental and social impact assessments began in May 2008. Earlier this year, a study was launched to evaluate and compare strategic alternatives to preserve the shrinking Dead Sea and augment the water supply to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The alternative scenarios include the rehabilitation of the lower part of the Jordan River and the transfer of water from the Mediterranean Sea or water sources in Turkey and Iraq to the Dead Sea. Other options include alternative desalination projects, improved management of the water sector in the three countries, and a combination of all these