Israel, Jordan, Palestine ink water-sharing pact to rehydrate Dead Sea

Israel, Jordan and Palestine have signed a water-sharing agreement aimed at replenishing the rapidly drying Dead Sea.

The agreement will build a pipeline to carry brine from a desalination plant at the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, while providing drinking water to the region.

The Dead Sea is dropping by as much as 3.3 ft a year as the River Jordan is depleted for use in irrigation, the BBC reports.

The agreement was signed on Monday by Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, Shaddad Attili, head of the Palestinian water authority, and Hazim el-Naser, head of the Jordanian water ministry at the headquarters of the World Bank in Washington DC.

The project is expected to cost 250 million dollars- 400 m dollars.

According to the report, the scheme will pipe water from the Gulf of Aqaba off the Red Sea through a desalination plant in Jordan, sending brine to the southern-most edge of the Dead Sea.

World Bank officials said that the brine would be used to test the impact of Red Sea water being transported to the Dead Sea.

It will involve the construction of a desalination plant in Jordan, projected to yield 80 million-100 million cu m of water annually.

The Dead Sea is losing water rapidly, with some fearing the Dead Sea could dry up entirely by 2050.