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<H1>Dead Sea, Jordan River valley face ecological disaster</H1></DIV>
<P class=byline>Christopher Allbritton, Chronicle Foreign Service</P>
<P class=date>Sunday, August 12, 2007
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<P><STRONG>(08-12) 04:00 PDT Jordan River Valley, Jordan</STRONG> --
<P>Abdel Rahman Sultan walked along a modern bridge over a small
<EM>wadi</EM> flowing into the Dead Sea, about 300 yards away. On the
other side of the salty lake, he could see the West Bank, the ancestral
home that his family fled after Israel captured the area in 1967. </P>
<P>"Three years ago, I used to bring kids from different schools to clean
up this wadi bed," he said. "There used to be fish here, small little
fish. ... Now, there are no fish here, there is no water. And no reason to
keep it clean."</P>
<P>Sultan is a project manager of Friends of the Earth Middle East
(FOEME), a nongovernmental organization dedicated to preserving the Jordan
River valley and the Dead Sea basin, an integrated ecosystem that is smack
in the middle of the world's most contentious land dispute - the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. </P>
<P>The Jordan River Valley is one of the most famous spots on Earth, full
of religious significance, historical interest and environmental richness.
The Israelites crossed it to enter the promised land; Christ was baptized
in its waters, and several of the prophet Muhammad's companions are buried
near its banks. </P>
<P>The sole source of water for the Dead Sea - the lowest place on Earth
at 1,378 feet below sea level - is the Jordan River, which travels from
north of the Sea of Galilee before draining into this deep hole of a
saline lake. As a result, the sea is 8.6 times saltier than oceans - and
people bob like corks when swimming in its waters. The minerals in its mud
are also prized for their rejuvenating effects on skin. The Jordan River
Valley is also a rich wetland ecosystem and an important migratory pathway
for more than 500 million birds. </P>
<P>But both the river and sea are dying.</P>
<P>Israel, Jordan and Syria divert more than 90 percent of the 1.3 billion
cubic meters of Jordan River water annually for drinking and irrigation
that should flow into the Dead Sea. The siphoning of water has caused the
Dead Sea to shrink by 30 percent over the last 20 years, according to
FOEME. Dams, pumping stations and canals suck the basin dry, while
wastewater is dumped into the sea. The water flowing past Christ's
baptismal site, just north of the Dead Sea, is mostly sewage.</P>
<P>In June, the World Monuments Fund added the Jordan River Valley to its
list of 100 most endangered sites.</P>
<P>But since much of the valley is an off-limits military zone because of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the environmental problem is not well
known.</P>
<P>Last month, about a dozen Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian mayors
from towns and settlements along the river met at the confluence of the
Jordan and the Yarmouk rivers to call attention to the situation by
swimming in one of the only remaining spots still considered safe for
bathing. </P>
<P>"There are people who use the water without considering the needs of
others," said Mamoun Alouneh, mayor of the Jordanian town of Tabket Fahal.
</P>
<P>FOEME has urged Jordanian farmers to diversify their crops, planting
date trees that use less water, rather than traditional banana and citrus
fruits - all water guzzlers. "Their response often is, 'You want me to
change what my great-great-grandfather started?' " said Mehyar. "You're
talking about a tribal mentality."</P>
<P>But like many other Mideast problems, toxic politics are never far
away. </P>
<P>Under Article 18 of the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan,
the two sides pledged to manage and rehabilitate the Jordan River Valley.
But both governments blame the other for water mismanagement. </P>
<P>Muneth Mehyar, chairman of the Jordanian chapter of FOEME, says a
Syrian dam across the Yarmouk River, Jordan's main tributary, has reduced
that river's flow to a trickle. Under an agreement between the two
nations, Mehyar says, Jordan should receive 700,000 liters per second from
Syria. Instead, it receives just 700 liters.</P>
<P>The peace treaty also calls on Jordan to supply Israel with 25 million
cubic meters of water every year, Mehyar said. But by cutting the flow of
the Yarmouk, the Syrians have forced the Jordanians to draw more water
from the Jordan River for their own use. </P>
<P>FOEME believes only a comprehensive political settlement between
Palestinians and Israelis would make regional cooperation possible and
solve the environmental problems.</P>
<P>Because Syria bans nongovernmental organizations it can't control,
FOEME has yet to talk to Syrian officials, whose water ministry appears
more interested in punishing Jordan for its peace treaty with Israel than
enacting sound environmental policies. </P>
<P>"A lot of people in Jordan criticize us for talking to Israel," said
Mehyar. "People still call us traitors."</P>
<P>Yet there is some movement to save the Dead Sea. </P>
<P>In 2005, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed an
agreement to study the feasibility of a 110-mile canal between the Red Sea
and the Dead Sea. A "Red-Dead" canal would pump up to 850 million cubic
meters of seawater from the Gulf of Aqaba about 110 miles south of the
Dead Sea. The $5 billion project, which is favored by the World Bank, is
also expected to provide jobs and about 190 megawatts of electricity for
the three parties.</P>
<P>FOEME, however, opposes the canal, arguing that protecting the Jordan
River Valley is a better solution than pumping water from elsewhere. They
note that the less- salty Red Sea waters are chemically different from the
Dead Sea, which, when mixed, might change the sea's unique properties.
Instead, Mehyar proposes changing consumption habits of Jews and Arabs,
peace parks and eco- and religious tourism as better ways to preserve the
valley.</P>
<P>"If we solved this water thing, we could solve 50 percent of the
political issues," Mehyar said. "I am sure people will come to their
senses."</P></SPAN></DIV><!--/articlecontent --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></BODY></HTML>