The Dead Sea is a saltwater lake located on the border of Jordan and Israel. It covers an area of 1,050 km² and is the lowest body of water on Earth . The lake's surface lies 392 meters below sea level. It is the saltiest and lowest-lying lake on Earth.
The Dead Sea is drying up

The Dead Sea is a saltwater lake located on the border of Jordan and Israel. It covers an area of 1,050 km² and is the lowest body of water on Earth . The lake's surface lies 392 meters below sea level. It is the saltiest and lowest-lying lake on Earth.

Due to climate change and significant water withdrawal from tributaries, it is drying up.

This salt lake could be saved by more intensive international cooperation, which is currently quite complicated.

The gradual drying of the Dead Sea is being exacerbated by rising average temperatures . These can reach up to +50 °C in the summer months in this area. The rising temperatures are causing excessive diversions and withdrawals of water in the tributaries to the lake. It is mainly supplied by the Jordan River, which supplies about 80% of its water, but also by several freshwater springs.

The annual inflow of water into the lake has decreased from 1.2 billion m³ to about a sixth, according to data from 2018.

Hydrologist Nadav Tal of the environmental organization EcoPeace and Ohad Karny of the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection agree that international cooperation is key to saving the Dead Sea . However, cooperation between Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan is significantly hampered by conflicts, including the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli authorities are preparing plans to improve the situation of the Dead Sea, which include supplying additional water through a newly built canal and desalination plants.

However, this solution is economically costly and not considered sensible, as it would bring water to the Dead Sea that is needed elsewhere.

A failed attempt to save the Dead Sea was a 2013 agreement between Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan, which included building a pipeline to bring water to the area from the Red Sea. According to press reports, in 2021 Jordan halted preparations for the infrastructure without a single meter of pipeline having been built.

The drying up of the lake is negatively affecting tourism there.

For five years now, beaches on the Israeli shore of the lake have been closed due to a significant drop in the lake level and dangerous landslides on the beaches.

The Dead Sea is sinking at a rate of about one meter per year. According to some estimates, the Dead Sea could disappear as a permanent body of water by 2050 .