by Gaelle Sundelin | Mar 18, 2013 | JORDAN TIMES

AMMAN — With no funding secured yet for the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project, the scheme needs the cooperation of all involved countries to ensure its success, according to experts.

“The Dead Sea is a shared area and we can’t save it on our own,” former water minister Munther Haddadin said during a discussion on Sunday evening that included former officials, experts and civil society representatives.

“We need to reinforce peace through this project; otherwise, it will never see the light,” Haddadin added, referring to the debate on whether to cooperate with Israel to implement the $10-billion scheme.

Initial plans for the Red-Dead project, which includes Jordan, Palestine and Israel, propose pumping one billion cubic metres of water annually from the Red Sea into the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea to stop its depletion.

Debate moderator Khaldoon Qudah, from Yarmouk University’s department of earth and environmental sciences, called for disregarding political issues because the Red-Dead is the “only solution” for the depleting Dead Sea and water shortage.

Rasha Haymour, conservation technical officer at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, called for developing alternative solutions.

“Geopolitical issues make it difficult for the project to be implemented and other steps could be taken in the meantime,” Haymour told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the discussion.

“The Jordan Valley Authority has already started implementing rehabilitation projects around the Jordan Valley,” she said.

“We also need to exploit the potential of precipitation water of which we only consume 20 per cent today, as well as develop solar power and wind energy to save water to generate electricity,” Haymour noted, adding that the project, although difficult to implement, would be a good solution to provide Jordan with drinking water.

Within the Red-Dead project, the water pumped from the Red Sea would be desalinated to provide Jordan with drinking water.

“Jordan can only afford providing water to 1.7 million people and its population is way over 6 million now,” panellist and former Jordan Valley Authority chief Dureid Mahasneh said.

http://jordantimes.com/red-dead-project-should-be-implemented-away-from-politics

The Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project is part of international efforts to save the Dead Sea