River Jordan could die by 2011
By Staff Writers
Alumot, Israel (AFP) May 3, 2010 The once mighty Jordan River, where Christians believe Jesus was baptised, is now little more than a polluted stream that could die next year unless the decay is halted, environmentalists said on Monday. The famed river “has been reduced to a trickle south of the Sea of Galilee, devastated by overexploitation, pollution and lack of regional management,” Friends of the Earth, Middle East (FoEME) said in a report. More than 98 percent of the river’s flow has been diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan over the years. “The remaining flow consists primarily of sewage, fish pond water, agricultural run-off and saline water,” the environmentalists from Israel, Jordan and the West Bank said in the report to be presented in Amman on Monday. “Without concrete action, the LJR (lower Jordan River) is expected to run dry at the end of 2011.” … Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian communities along the lower Jordan river — about 340,000 people in all — dump raw sewage into the river. Ironically, if the sewage stops flowing into the river — which Israel plans to do on its stretch — the damage could be even greater unless additional measures are taken to reduce the salinity of the water. …
