I wanted to provide a quick follow up from yesterday's blog about the Dead Sea. This morning, I was reading Todd Bolen's blog and he provided a fantastic picture of the western shore of the Dead Sea from the early 1900's. It gives you a great perspective of how much the landscape has changed in the last 50 years. Today, there is a nicely paved two-lane highway that runs the entire length of the western edge of the sea. Clearly from the picture, that was not the case back then. The water level has dropped significantly since then.
From an ecological standpoint, should we be concerned about the height of the Dead Sea? Well, yes and no. History has shown us that the water levels in the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River and the Dead Sea tend to go up and down over time. So, some of this is the normal ebb and flow of nature. However, most of the drastic drop over the past 30 years can be attributed to water being diverted from the tributaries leading to the Jordan River for irrigation and human consumption. While those reasons are completely understandable, scientists are continuing to look at it with the hopes of finding solutions to solve all of the problems.
Todd Bolen's picture comes from the Southern Palestine Photo Collection at Life in the Holy Land.