Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
The issue of surface water, in a context of sustainable development, remains a critical factor for development in arid and semi-arid countries. Many countries are still not on the track to reach the water-related targets which threaten their security, development, and environmental sustainability. Another issue of growing important is the international conflicts over water quantity and (recently) quality. Jordan is categorized between the arid and semi arid countries, and can be considered as one of the most ten water stressed countries in the world, with an annual per capita share of water less than 125 cubic meters of fresh water resources, while the world poverty line is 1000 CM. The water shortage causes the shrinkage of investments in the industrial, commercial, tourism, and agricultural sectors which ultimately leads to negative impacts on the sustainable developments of the country and region. An interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work is the nature of modern water management plans which leads to solve the problem from a broad view. The concept of this project is to construct a 112-mile pipeline to transfer water northward from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea to pump sea water into the salt lake while generating hydroelectric power for use in desalination. The governments of Jordan, Palestine Authority, and Israel have been enthusiastic supporters of this project, and are calling on the international community to support its multi-billion dollar project. However, detractors of the canal claim that there are numerous of archaeological and historic sites around the Dead Sea, thus it may do more environmental harm than good and suggest that the Dead Sea be naturally restored by allowing the Jordan River to flow southward unimpeded. This paper investigates the direct and indirect merits of the proposed construction and analyzes its significance and implications

Keywords: Red-Dead Sea construction, environmental concerns, water policies, strategic plans

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