The proposed Two Seas Canal would run from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea and provide electricity and potable water to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Location of the Red Sea Image:Red Seaimage. ... Dead Sea at Sunset (from Suwayma, Jordan) The Dead Sea (Hebrew ים המלח) , (Arabic البحر الميت) is the lowest exposed point on the Earths surface. ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ...

The water level in Dead Sea is shrinking at a rate of almost one meter per year, and its surface area has shrunk by about 30% in the last 20 years. This is largely due to the diversion of about 90% of the water volume in the Jordan River. In the early 1960s, the river moved 1.3 billion cubic meters of water every year from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. But dams, canals and pumping stations built by Israel, Jordan and Syria to divert water for crops and drinking have reduced the flow by more than 90% to about 100 million cubic meters. This article is about the Jordan River and its valley in western Asia. ... The Sea of Galilee with the Jordan River flowing out of it to the south and into the Dead Sea Kineret redirects here; for the Amgen drug having this tradename, see Anakinra The Sea of Galilee is Israels largest freshwater lake, approximately 53 kilometers (33 miles) in circumference, about...

On May 9, 2005 Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement to go ahead with a feasibility study for the Two Seas Canal. The agreement was signed on the Dead Sea by Jordanian Water Minister Raed Abu Saud, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib. May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ...

The proposed canal would pump seawater 170 meters uphill from the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba in Jordan and then run down into the Dead Sea, which lies about 400 m below sea level. The project will consist of about 175 km of canal, tunnel and piping along the Jordan-Israel border. It is expected to take about five years to build. Hydroelectric power generated from the elevation difference is expected to be about 190 megawatts. The Canal du Midi in Toulouse, France. ... Sinai Peninsula, with the Gulf of Aqaba (east) and the Gulf of Suez (west), as viewed from the Space Shuttle STS-40. ... Hydroelectric dam diagram The waters of Llyn Stwlan, the upper reservoir of the Ffestiniog Pumped-Storage Scheme in north Wales, can just be glimpsed on the right. ...

The USD 5 billion project includes a 550 MW power plant which will provide for electricity pumping the water in the initial stages and power a desalination plant which will provide around 850 million cubic meters of fresh water a year to the three countries. [1]. Since hydroelectric generation will supply 190 megawatts, the remainder of the power needed will be supplied using conventional energy sources. A power station (also power plant) is a facility for the generation of electric power. ... Desalination or desalinization refers to any of several processes that remove the excess salt and other minerals from water in order to obtain fresh water suitable for animal consumption or irrigation, and if almost all of the salt is removed, for human consumption, sometimes producing table salt as a by...

A shorter and better route running from the Mediterranean Sea has been proposed by Israel in the past, but was discarded, as it would not suit Jordan's security and political needs. Satellite image The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ...

The proposal has generated concern in Egypt which believes that the canal will increase seismic activity in the region; provide Israel with water for cooling its nuclear reactor near Dimona; turn the Negev Desert in to a settlement area and increase the salinity of wells. [2] Institute 2, Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC), Dimona, photographed by Mordechai Vanunu The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev desert, near the city of Dimona, at . ... Dimona is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, 36 kilometers to the south of Beer-Sheva and 35 kilometers west of the Dead Sea in the Southern District of Israel. ... The Negev (נגב, Standard Hebrew Négev / Nágev, Tiberian Hebrew Néḡeḇ / Nāḡeḇ; Arabic النقب an-Naqab) is the desert region of southern Israel. ...

Environmental Impact

The proponents of the Two Sea canal point to the positive aspects related to the construction of the canal, namely restoring the Dead Sea to its historic level, and making fresh water available for the benefiting countries. However, some negative impacts are expected from the construction of this canal as well. These can be summarized as follows:

1- Salination of the Dead Sea. The pumping of effluent from the sea water desalination process will lead to the buildup of salts in the Dead Sea. Eventually, this will lead to large scale halite precipitation on the surface and the shores of the Dead Sea. If salt starts to build up on the water surface, evaporation will stop and the entire project might end.

2- Threats to the aquifers in Wadi Araba. The alluvial deposits in Wadi Araba contain important supplies of fresh water. In the event that the pipeline ruptures (as might happen in the case of an earthquake), these aquifers will be irreparably damaged. An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, or permeable mixtures of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) (see also groundwater). ...

3- Threats to archeological heritage. The pipeline will cross areas of important cultural heritage, such as Wadi Finan, where the earliest copper mining and extraction in the world took place.