Dead Sea with mountains reflecting off the water. Photo: Wiki Commons.

Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement to build a water pipeline that will link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The agreement was signed on Monday, December 9, in Washington, D.C., at the headquarters of the World Bank. The pipeline, which will take three years to complete, will help slow the drying up of the Dead Sea with the inflow of water from the Red Sea. It will also provide the region with millions of cubic meters of drinking water.

Minister of Regional Cooperation and National Infrastructures, Energy and Water, Silvan Shalom, signed for Israel. Water and Irrigation Minister Hazem Al Nasser signed for Jordan. Water Authority Minister Dr. Shaddad Attili signed for the Palestinian Authority.

The pipeline will be 180 kilometers long, and will pass through Jordanian territory, channeling 100 million cubic meters of water per annum northward from the Red Sea. The estimated cost for the project is approximately $300-400 million, as projected by the Israel Ministry of Regional Cooperation. While the World Bank will support the project with a cash injection, millions of dollars will be raised from donor countries and philanthropic sources.

“ŽApproximately 80 million cubic meters will be desalinated at a facility to be built in Aqaba, Jordan, on the Red Sea: this will produce approximately 100 million cubic meters of drinking water. The Arava region and Eilat will receive 30-50 million cubic meters of water, while Jordan will receive 30 million cubic meters of water for use in its southern regions. In addition, Israel will sell Jordan another 50 million cubic meters of water from the Kinneret for use in the north.  The project will cover Jordan’s need for drinking water for approximately a decade. Roughly 30 million cubic meters of water from the Kinneret will be pumped for the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria.

“This is a historic agreement that realizes a dream of many years and the dream of Herzl. The agreement is of the highest diplomatic, economic, environmental, and strategic importance,” said Minister Shalom. “I am pleased that an investment of years has reached its hoped-for conclusion and will benefit Israel and the residents of the region as a whole,” he added.

Jordanian Water Minister Hazem Nasser spoke about the humanitarian side of the project: “This is an agreement with a humanitarian aspect, designed to aid those who need water. There is an ecological aspect as well, since we are trying to save the Dead Sea.”

The head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Shaddad Attili stressed that, “the agreement is unrelated to the Oslo Accords. The beauty is that this is a regional deal and it is important to everyone to save the Dead Sea. Despite political issues and the conflict, we proved that we can all work together.”