Two Seas Canal
Encyclopedia
The Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal (sometimes called the Two Seas Canal) is a proposed canal which would run from the Red Sea
to the Dead Sea
and provide electricity and potable water to Jordan
, Israel
and the Palestinian Authority. This proposal has a major role in plans for economic cooperation between Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians, through the Peace Valley plan. The water level in Dead Sea is shrinking at a rate of more than one metre per year, and its surface area has shrunk by about 30% in the last 20 years. This is largely due to the diversion of about 90% of the water volume in the Jordan River. In the early 1960s, the river moved 1.5 billion cubic metres of water every year from the Sea of Galilee
to the Dead Sea. But dams, canals and pumping stations built by Israel and Jordan to divert water for crops and drinking have reduced the flow to about 100 million cubic metres.
A shorter route for a canal to stop the Dead Sea from shrinking, the Mediterranean-Dead Sea Canal, has been proposed in Israel, but was discarded due to high investment costs of the needed long tunnel.
, Israel
and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement to go ahead with a feasibility study for the Two Seas Canal. The agreement was signed on the Dead Sea by Jordanian Water Minister Raed Abu Soud
, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
and Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib.
In June 2009, after a meeting with World Bank President Robert Zoellick, the Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister, Silvan Shalom
, announced a pilot project to build a "pilot" pipe 180 km long from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The pipe would pump 200 million cubic meters per year. Half of this would be desalinated for Jordanian consumption and half put into the Dead Sea..
In October 2009 the Jordanian government announced that it would unilaterally tender a Jordan Red Sea Project. According to the government, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Project. The consulting firm that carries out the feasibility study, Coyne and Bellier, expressed its surprise at the decision to go ahead with the project before the feasibility study was completed. But the Jordanian government said it could not wait any longer. The project is to be implemented by a private company under authority granted by the government. The project would also serve as an economic development project to create housing for 1.36 million people south of Amman, at the Southern end of the Dead Sea, north of Aqaba and in gated communities. Also, several touristic resorts would be created. It is divided into five phases. The first phase would include extraction of 400 million cubic meters of seawater per year, resulting in 210 million cubic metres/year of freshwater and 190 million cubic metres/year for discharge into the Dead Sea. The construction of the first phase is expected to take 7 years. In March 2011 the Ministry of Water and Irrigation short-listed six firms for the first phase of the project.
in Jordan and then run down into the Dead Sea, which lies about 420 m below sea level. The project will consist of about 525km of seawater and bring conveyance pipelines along the Arabah valley in Jordan and 348km of freshwater conveyance pipelines. It includes water desalination plants and hydropower plants. In its ultimate phase the Jordan Red Sea Project would provide 930 million cubic meters of freshwater per year for Jordan. It would require 995 MW of electric generating capacity and would provide 180 MW through hydropower, making the project a large net energy users. The net energy demand would have to be satisfied through power projects whose costs is not included in the project costs. Jordan plans to build a nuclear reactor which may supply these power needs.
. Some of these characteristics, especially in the Dead Sea area, are unique on a global perspective, and therefore crucially important for conservation. The environmental group Friends of the Earth
Middle East has protested against the allegedly premature approval of the project, without sufficient assessment of the project's impact on the natural environment of the area. The group lists several potential hazardous effects of the project on the unique natural systems of the Red Sea, the Dead Sea and the Arabah. These effects include:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. Avner Adin said more studies were needed on the potential environmental impact.
Israeli environmental NGOs say that the reestablishment of the Jordan River to its natural state was a better solution to the decline of the Dead Sea than the proposed canal.
, which believes that the canal will increase seismic activity in the region; provide Israel with water for cooling its nuclear reactor
near Dimona
; turn the Negev Desert in to a settlement area and increase the salinity of wells.
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
to the Dead Sea
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...
and provide electricity and potable water to Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the Palestinian Authority. This proposal has a major role in plans for economic cooperation between Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians, through the Peace Valley plan. The water level in Dead Sea is shrinking at a rate of more than one metre per year, and its surface area has shrunk by about 30% in the last 20 years. This is largely due to the diversion of about 90% of the water volume in the Jordan River. In the early 1960s, the river moved 1.5 billion cubic metres of water every year from the Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
to the Dead Sea. But dams, canals and pumping stations built by Israel and Jordan to divert water for crops and drinking have reduced the flow to about 100 million cubic metres.
A shorter route for a canal to stop the Dead Sea from shrinking, the Mediterranean-Dead Sea Canal, has been proposed in Israel, but was discarded due to high investment costs of the needed long tunnel.
History
On May 9, 2005 JordanJordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement to go ahead with a feasibility study for the Two Seas Canal. The agreement was signed on the Dead Sea by Jordanian Water Minister Raed Abu Soud
Raed Abu Soud
Raed M. Abu Soud is a Jordanian engineer and politician. He has held several key positions in a number of Jordanian Government Cabinets, with his first appointment being that of Jordanian Minister of Transportation between 2000 and 2003...
, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
Binyamin Fuad Ben-Eliezer , , born 12 February 1936) is an Israeli politician and former military officer of Iraqi origin. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, and has held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour, Minister of...
and Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib.
In June 2009, after a meeting with World Bank President Robert Zoellick, the Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister, Silvan Shalom
Silvan Shalom
' , born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset for Likud and the country's Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development. He previously served as the country's Foreign Minister and Finance Minister.-Biography:...
, announced a pilot project to build a "pilot" pipe 180 km long from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The pipe would pump 200 million cubic meters per year. Half of this would be desalinated for Jordanian consumption and half put into the Dead Sea..
In October 2009 the Jordanian government announced that it would unilaterally tender a Jordan Red Sea Project. According to the government, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Project. The consulting firm that carries out the feasibility study, Coyne and Bellier, expressed its surprise at the decision to go ahead with the project before the feasibility study was completed. But the Jordanian government said it could not wait any longer. The project is to be implemented by a private company under authority granted by the government. The project would also serve as an economic development project to create housing for 1.36 million people south of Amman, at the Southern end of the Dead Sea, north of Aqaba and in gated communities. Also, several touristic resorts would be created. It is divided into five phases. The first phase would include extraction of 400 million cubic meters of seawater per year, resulting in 210 million cubic metres/year of freshwater and 190 million cubic metres/year for discharge into the Dead Sea. The construction of the first phase is expected to take 7 years. In March 2011 the Ministry of Water and Irrigation short-listed six firms for the first phase of the project.
Project features and benefits
The proposed canal would pump seawater 230 meters uphill from the Red Sea's Gulf of AqabaGulf of Aqaba
The Gulf of Aqaba is a large gulf located at the northern tip of the Red Sea. In pre twentieth-century and modern sources it is often named the Gulf of Eilat, as Eilat is its predominant Israeli city ....
in Jordan and then run down into the Dead Sea, which lies about 420 m below sea level. The project will consist of about 525km of seawater and bring conveyance pipelines along the Arabah valley in Jordan and 348km of freshwater conveyance pipelines. It includes water desalination plants and hydropower plants. In its ultimate phase the Jordan Red Sea Project would provide 930 million cubic meters of freshwater per year for Jordan. It would require 995 MW of electric generating capacity and would provide 180 MW through hydropower, making the project a large net energy users. The net energy demand would have to be satisfied through power projects whose costs is not included in the project costs. Jordan plans to build a nuclear reactor which may supply these power needs.
Costs and financing
The project cost estimates vary from two to ten billion dollars depending on its structure and stages. The first phase of the Jordan Red Sea Project is expected to cost US$2 billion. It is expected to be financed to a large extent from commercial sources, including debt and equity. Since water tariffs in Jordan are low, the private investors are expected to earn revenues largely from residential, touristic, commercial and industrial real estate developments that would be built near the route of the canal.Environmental Impact
The transfer of mass volumes of water from one sea to another, can bear drastic consequences on the unique natural characteristics of each of the two seas, as well as the desert valley which separates them, the ArabahArabah
The Arabah , also known as Aravah, is a section of the Great Rift Valley running in a north-south orientation between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea and continuing further south where it ends at the Gulf of Aqaba. It includes most of the border between Israel to the...
. Some of these characteristics, especially in the Dead Sea area, are unique on a global perspective, and therefore crucially important for conservation. The environmental group Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
Middle East has protested against the allegedly premature approval of the project, without sufficient assessment of the project's impact on the natural environment of the area. The group lists several potential hazardous effects of the project on the unique natural systems of the Red Sea, the Dead Sea and the Arabah. These effects include:
- Damage to the unique natural system of the Dead Sea, due to mixing its water with Red Sea water, or brines created from the process of desalinating Red Sea water which has a different chemical composition. This includes changes in water salinity, massive formation of gypsum, formation of volatile toxic compounds, change in water evaporation rates, changes in the composition of bacteria and algae which inhabit the sea surface, chemical changes in the rocks which surround the water, and loss of unique health benefits that account for much of the tourist attraction to the Dead Sea area.
- Damage to the coral reefs of the Gulf of AqabaGulf of AqabaThe Gulf of Aqaba is a large gulf located at the northern tip of the Red Sea. In pre twentieth-century and modern sources it is often named the Gulf of Eilat, as Eilat is its predominant Israeli city ....
, due to water pumping. - Damage to the natural landscape and ecosystem of the Arabah, due to the construction, and the increase in humidity caused by the open canal segments.
- Damage to the aquiferAquiferAn aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
of the ArabahArabahThe Arabah , also known as Aravah, is a section of the Great Rift Valley running in a north-south orientation between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea and continuing further south where it ends at the Gulf of Aqaba. It includes most of the border between Israel to the...
, due to contamination of groundwater with water from the Red Sea. The alluvial deposits in Wadi Araba contain important supplies of fresh water. In the event that the pipeline ruptures (as might happen in the case of an earthquake), these aquifers will be irreparably damaged. This can bear fatal consequences to both the agriculture and ecosystem of the Arabah. - Threats to archeological heritage. The pipeline will cross areas of important cultural heritage, such as Wadi Finan, where the earliest copper mining and extraction in the world took place.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. Avner Adin said more studies were needed on the potential environmental impact.
Israeli environmental NGOs say that the reestablishment of the Jordan River to its natural state was a better solution to the decline of the Dead Sea than the proposed canal.
Egyptian concerns
The proposal has also generated some concern in EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, which believes that the canal will increase seismic activity in the region; provide Israel with water for cooling its nuclear reactor
Negev Nuclear Research Center
The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev desert, about thirteen kilometers to the south-east of the city of Dimona. The purpose of Dimona is widely assumed to be the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and the majority of defense experts have...
near Dimona
Dimona
Dimona is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, to the south of Beersheba and west of the Dead Sea above the Arava valley in the Southern District of Israel. Its population at the end of 2007 was 33,600.-History:...
; turn the Negev Desert in to a settlement area and increase the salinity of wells.