Tel Aviv—Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry has come out strongly against a plan to build the Red-to-Dead Sea pipeline project. The ministry said the proposal to build the pipeline from Jordan’s southern port of Aqaba to the Dead Sea would destroy the Dead Sea. The World Bank is promoting the $10 billion project as a regional cooperation venture involving Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians. However, the ministry said that the pipeline, which would bring huge quantities of water from the Red Sea for desalination as well as for replenishing the Dead Sea, could cause algae and bacterial blooms, fill the inland sea with calcium sulfate, and cause a stench from sulfur hydroxide emissions. This would also have a negative impact on potash and other mineral production, as well as tourism. The ministry wants a pilot project to determine the impact of mixing the waters of the Red and Dead Seas on a scale that would not jeopardize the Dead Sea. A World Bank report says the plan is financially feasible. The project involves a series of underground pipelines that would run from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, a hydro electric plant, and desalination plants.
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