Ecological Impact Assessment of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conduit Project

Anna Cihlová

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

The region of Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority lays in a semi-arid and arid area of the world with low precipitation and a high evaporation rate. In the last decades, these governments have been overexploiting the Dead Sea and its only tributary the Jordan River, which has led to the rapid drying of these vital water resources. As a result of the Jordan River’s low inflow and the extreme climate conditions in the area, the Dead Sea’s water level started rapidly decreasing throughout a short period. To fight water scarcity and to save the Dead Sea, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to construct the Red Sea-Dead Sea Conduit. The project aims is to connect the Red Sea to the Dead Sea via a conduit and pump water from the Red Sea to fill up and stabilize the Dead Sea’s water basin. Part of the project is a construction of desalination and hydropower plant. This thesis evaluates the potential environmental impacts associated with the development of the conduit. To compare and contrast the presented advantages and disadvantages to assess the project’s feasibility, all previous information and proposals regarding the Red Sea-Dead Sea Conduit project were reviewed. The project brings benefits such as stabilizing the Dead Sea, providing hydropower, and supplying water for the entire region. But the negative impacts, which could be long-term and potentially irreversible to the environment, outweigh the benefits. The evolution of the project also brings to question: is protecting the Dead Sea merely a promotional instrument, while the true underlying goal is to provide water and energy to water-scarce countries? In the conclusion of that, solving an environmental issue through another huge human intervention into nature is, in this case, inefficient and unsustainable. Another simpler and less-intrusive solution could be established, one that would not include stabilizing the Dead Sea’s water level.

Keywords

The Red Sea-Dead Sea Conduit, Desalination, Hydropower, Water Scarcity, Ecological Impacts

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 29. 6. 2020

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Vojtěch Havlíček, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Bachelor programme / field:
Environmental Sciences / Applied Ecology