I attended the Australian Israel Hawke lecture on 07/07/2009. Here are a few interesting facts presented by Dr Clive Lipchin Director AVARA Institute of Environmental Studies Israel.

The Jordon river basin surface water system is shared by Syria, Jordon, Lebanon and Israel. Flows to the Dead Sea have long ceased and the water level has dropped 30 metres since 1960. Its surface is now 416 metres below sea level.

Every country around the Mediterranean Sea uses desalination.

No long term damage has been observed in any brine discharge area.

Israel has 6 Reverse Osmosis plants producing 365 gigalitres per annum. (Pt Stanvac will be a RO plant producing 100 gigalitres). Most countries on the southern shores use a MSF (multi stage flash) distillation process attached to a power generation plant. The installation at Tabruk produces 24 million litres per day.

Notwithstanding the political problems, the governments of Israel, Jordon, and Palestine, have signed an agreement for a very technical, high risk to the environment, and expensive project to provide potable water and “save the Dead Sea”. It involves, pumping water from the Red Sea up the mountains, through tunnel and canal to a filter station, down into the Jordon valley, to a hydro powered desalination plant, discharging brine into the Dead Sea and delivering potable water to Jordon and Israel.

Google “the red sea-dead sea” myth Then view slide 19.

I wonder how long it will take our governments to devise a plan to “save the Lower lakes”