What happens when the balance between freshwater in the Dead Sea and evaporation gets disturbed by man's destructive actions? The Dead Sea lives up to its name. It slowly fades away, its sea level dropping and its shores receding little by little. Right now, the sea "lies 424 meters below sea level" and "could sink to -550 meters by 2200." Water pumped from the the Jordan River, the Dead Sea's source of freshwater, for agriculture and mining have reduced the amount of freshwater flowing into the Dead Sea "from about 1,300 million cubic meters a year to 30 million cubic meters a year." Sinkholes, such as the small holes seen in the picture, can actually be quite large, measuring "up to 25 meters wide and 15 meters deep." They are caused by the receding shorelines of the Dead Sea and can swallow everything on top of it without warning, as they can open quite quickly, causing a danger. Also, those who live near the Dead Sea are afraid of "losing a valuable natural and cultural resource," so they are debating whether to start a program which would cost $10 billion. This program would involve taking water from the Red Sea, using desalination plants to take out the right amount of salt from the Red Sea's salty water, and putting that treated water into the Dead Sea. The goal of this program would be to recreate the balance between freshwater and evaporation by 2050. Although it seems like a good idea, it could create some problems. The Red Sea contains organisms and types of algae that the Dead Sea does not have, and the mixture of the two seas might turn red because of too much algae. Additionally, the two seas may not mix and create two different layers, and that would not work out as planned. While humans are clearly making a negative impact on the Earth, in this case, there is a way to reverse the changes, like this $10-billion project. Notice that the people writing this article did not even mention stopping the pumping from the Jordan River because it is too important to the economy of the people. Now it is the decision of whether to sacrifice the economy by spending $10 billion or to sacrifice the Earth by continuing to do what humans need without repairing the damage they made to the environment.Haddok, Eitan. "Can the Dead Sea Live?" Scientific American Apr. 2011: 60-65.
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