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Jordan and Israel reach agreement on restoring Dead Sea

Jordan and Israel reach agreement on restoring Dead Sea

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A desalination plant will be built in the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba on the Red Sea and will provide water to both Israelis and Palestinians. The brine that is a byproduct of the process will be sent north through a pipeline to the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea has been found to be receding at a rate of more than 3.3 feet (1 meter) every year.

The idea of linking the two bodies of water has been around for more than a century. The project began to move ahead two years ago after the World Bank determined it is possible to use the Red Sea to replenish the shrinking Dead Sea after years of studying whether such a connecting lifeline could work.

The desalination plant will produce at least 80 million cubic meters annually. Israel will buy at a cost up to 40 million cubic meters. The rest will go to Aqaba.

Jordan's water minister, Hazem al Nasser, said the pipeline will pump 300 million cubic meters annually of Red Sea water to the Dead Sea. As many as 2 billion cubic meters are envisioned in a future expansion.

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