Plan to Add Water to Dead Sea Receives World Bank Approval

A plan to pump water from the Red Sea into the rapidly-depleting Dead Sea has received World Bank approval for $1.25 billion in funding. The announcement was made on Saturday by Israeli Development Minister Sylvan Shalom. The project, which has been in the works for some time, is a joint project of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. A canal 118 miles in length will deposit half of the water directly into the Dead Sea while the other half will be re-directed to a desalination plant operated jointly by the three entities. In the second phase, a larger canal will be built that will deliver the 3 billion cubic meters required yearly to keep the level of the Dead Sea constant. It is predicted that the Dead Sea will dry up completely by 2050 if no action is taken.