BICOM

Israel and Jordan yesterday signed a major water-sharing agreement, which is designed to help the water needs of both countries and replenish the dwindling Dead Sea which they both border.

The project, known as the Two Seas Canal, will carry 100 million cubic meters of water each year from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The latter has seen its surface fall by 22 metres since 1970 and is predicted to dry up by 2050 without intervention. About 80 million cubic meters of water will be desalinated in a plant to be built in the Jordanian Red Sea city of Aqaba. Water will be divided between Jordan and Israel, which will use it to supply the surrounding Arava region. A 200 km pipeline in Jordanian territory will deliver water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The idea for such a scheme was first raised when Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994.

Meanwhile, Jordan will be able to purchase an additional 50 million cubic metres of water from Israel’s Sea of Galilee to help address its water shortage. A memorandum of understanding on the entire project was signed in December 2013 and made provision for the Palestinian Authority to purchase 20 million cubic metres of water from Israel.

Israel’s Energy and Water Resources Minister Silvan Shalom signed the agreement yesterday in Jordan with his Jordanian counterpart Hazem Nasser, in the presence of US State Department and World Bank officials. Shalom called the deal “the most significant agreement since the peace treaty with Jordan,” adding, “This is the culmination of a productive cooperation between the nations that will help restore the Dead Sea, and provide solutions to Jordan’s water problems.”

Signatories agreed that a Joint Administration Body including representatives from both countries will be established to oversee the project. International tenders will be issued with the intention that the desalination plant will begin operating in 18 months time and the pipeline will be laid in three years.