Original subtitles

NARRATOR: The Dead Sea.

One of the most extraordinary places on Earth.

The Dead Sea is unique in many, many aspects--

its chemistry,

its evolution,

its composition.

NARRATOR: Its healing powers are well-known.

And it was the setting of dramatic events in the Bible.

JOAN TAYLOR: It was considered

a very unusual and extraordinary place

in antiquity.

The Dead Sea is very special.

It's a treasure.

NARRATOR: But now this wonder of the world is vanishing,

the shoreline pockmarked with sinkholes.

One-third of the Dead Sea surface has been lost

because of the lack of water.

NARRATOR: The sea is in desperate need of water

in one of the most water-scarce regions on the planet--

the Middle East.

SHADDAD ATTILI: Access to water is a fundamental

basic human right.

NARRATOR: Now a team of scientists

has developed an innovative and daring plan

to help solve the region's water shortage

and at the same time, save a dying sea.

But will it work?

We can destroy it,

if we intervene too much.

NARRATOR: "Saving the Dead Sea."

Next on "NOVA."

♪

Major funding for "NOVA" is provided by the following:

NARRATOR: It is the lowest place on the surface of the Earth,

more than 1,400 feet below sea level,

ten times saltier than any ocean.

In ancient times, this sea was considered a threat.

The way it's presented in the Bible can be...

quite negative.

(fire crackling, people screaming)

Sodom and Gomorrah were engulfed by the Dead Sea

as a punishment by God.

NARRATOR: But this sea has also been treasured

for its unique chemistry.

Aristotle wrote about its remarkable water,

where everything floats.

According to legend, Cleopatra ordered her lover, Mark Antony,

to conquer the sea because of its mystical powers.

For thousands of years, pilgrims have come here

to bathe in its healing waters.

The Dead Sea is really very unique, very beautiful.

NARRATOR: But now, this one-of-a-kind sea is receding at an alarming rate.

CARMIT ISH SHALOM: We need a lot of water here.

The water balance here is so in overdraft.

NARRATOR: Back in the 1960s, the shoreline was almost up to the road.

Now, in some areas,

it's a mile away.

And as the water declines,

the beach has become inundated with sinkholes--

6,000 and counting.

GIDEON HADAS: It's like the craters on the moon,

but here it's not the moon.

This is a dying sea.

NARRATOR: Just three years ago, this beach was visited by tourists

from around the world.

SHALOM: Now they evacuate the place.

All the infrastructures around,

they were being shut down,

like there was a gas station

and there used to be a restaurant here.

It looks like a bombed area.

It looks like a war.

Look at this.

We're just walking on something that used to be road.

This is a very dangerous area.

It is very, very important that something be done here.

NARRATOR: Now a massive engineering project is in the works

to bring water back to the sea.

But will it succeed?

Can the Dead Sea be saved?

What's happening to the Dead Sea

is the age-old story of life in the desert:

the story of water.

The Dead Sea is in the heart of the Middle East,

bordered by Israel, the Palestinian Authority,

and Jordan,

a region that is home

to five percent of the world's population,

but just one percent of its water,

making it one of the most water-scarce regions

on the planet.

DANNY RUBINSTEIN: Palestine, Israel, and Jordan are mostly desert.

Since the biblical time, since the beginning of history,

we know that we have a shortage of water.

♪

HADAS: The secret of the life

in this area

is the water.

And the rule is, if there is water, there is life

and if there is no water, there is no life.

ATTILI: All people need water.

Israeli as well as the Palestinians, Jordanians,

as a human being.

Water is not a choice.

Water is a must.

NARRATOR: But to solve the region's water shortage,

Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians

have to overcome years of conflict.

(crowd chanting)

It is the most troubled area in the world,

and the Israeli-Arab conflict

has been running for the last 70 years or more.

Always, water is there

if countries want an excuse to initiate a conflict.

ODED FIXLER: Water can be a cause of conflict,

but we will prefer it as a means of cooperation.

NARRATOR: In a unique three-way agreement

between Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians,

a plan was developed called the Red Sea-Dead Sea Project.

The Red Sea-Dead Sea Conveyance Project

speaks about supplying drinking water for the Middle East

and stabilizing the Dead Sea,

that's what the Red Sea-Dead Sea is about.

♪

NARRATOR: It is an elaborate plan with many steps.

Jordan will get more water through a pipeline

from a lake in Israel called the Sea of Galilee.

The Palestinian Authority will get more water, too,

from the existing Israeli water system.

And in Southern Jordan, a desalination plant

will be built on the shores of the Red Sea.

The salty leftovers from the process of desalination,

called brine,

will be transported through a massive pipeline

and emptied into the Dead Sea to raise its level.

FIXLER: It's a regional cooperation project.

I think it's the first one and the biggest one

between Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority.

♪

NARRATOR: This plan could represent an important step

in bringing peace to the region,

but at the same time, is it good for the Dead Sea?

It is one of the world's largest water experiments

and no one is sure if it will work.

♪

For scientists, the project is an enormous challenge

that involves linking two seas that have never been connected

in all of human history:

the Red Sea...

and the Dead Sea.

The geology of the region has made the Dead Sea

one of the most mineral-rich bodies of water on Earth.

No one knows exactly how a massive influx of Red Sea brine,

the leftovers from the proposed Jordanian desalination plant,

will affect its unique chemistry.

JIWCHAR GANOR: The composition of the water is very complicated.

It's not similar to any other seawater on Earth.

Every time that we are working with the Dead Sea,

we have many surprises.

♪

Here, at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, Israel,

researchers are trying to eliminate those surprises.

(speaking Hebrew)

NARRATOR: They're mixing Red Sea water, or brine,

with the unique water of the Dead Sea.

GANOR: In the laboratory, we're trying to do experiment.

We are playing with different ratio,

different concentration,

different temperature--

we're playing with all the conditions

in order to learn

what will happen to the Dead Sea.

NARRATOR: After months of mixing, they make an alarming observation.

The Dead Sea, instead of the regular color,

could turn white.

NARRATOR: Tiny white crystals could form.

There's no doubt it will be a shocking aesthetic change.

What causes this strange transformation?

A mineral called gypsum.

It's used in plaster of Paris, wallboards,

orthopedic casts--

even toothpaste.

Gypsum is a combination of calcium and sulfate.

It turns out that the Dead Sea is rich in calcium

and the Red Sea rich in sulfate.

GANOR: Combined together,

you get gypsum crystals.

NARRATOR: In the lab, some of the concoctions

the scientists cook up

form gypsum in a matter of hours.

How long this process will take when Red Sea brine

meets the Dead Sea on a massive scale

is unclear.

Will it take years, or perhaps never happen at all?

GANOR: If we say that there is something

that we fully understand,

then we... basically, we are lying to ourselves.

I think that being a geologist,

one of the things I learned is modesty.

The condition in nature are much more complicated

than in the laboratory.

NARRATOR: To play it safe, the scientists recommend

bringing in a small amount of Red Sea brine to start.

MARKEL: You don't want to come to help the Dead Sea

and find yourself harming it.

Therefore, the decision is to go in stages.

NARRATOR: And if a smaller amount doesn't affect the sea's chemistry,

they'll add in more, bit by bit.

And in the future,

when we will have the second stage and the third stage,

the Dead Sea will be stabilized, finally.

NARRATOR: Stabilizing the sea will end its decline.

But the amount of Red Sea brine it will require each year

is hard to fathom--

almost 200 billion gallons.

But whitening is just one of the challenges.

Brine from the Red Sea is only about seven percent salt,

while the Dead Sea is a whopping 34%.

Mix them together,

and it could lower the Dead Sea's salt content,

and that might turn the sea red.

Just like it did right outside of Salt Lake City, Utah,

in America's Great Salt Lake.

When one flies over the Great Salt Lake,

one sees that the northern lake is in fact red.

NARRATOR: A large causeway divides the lake in two.

One end gets very little fresh water,

and when its salt content rose to more than 25%,

it became the perfect breeding ground for algae.

Researchers estimate mixing Red Sea brine and Dead Sea water

will hit the same salty sweet spot,

and the sea could turn red.

In fact, the growth of algae has occurred

in other salt lakes, like Lake Retba in Senegal

and Lake Hillier in Australia.

Unlike red tide, the algae that might grow here

would not be harmful to humans,

but the sea might never look the same.

As scientists, we say, "Look, this is a consequence

of what can we foresee and what can we predict."

NARRATOR: Predicting how nature will respond

to the mixing of two very different seas

is just one of the problems researchers face.

Unraveling the mystery of where and when

the next Dead Sea sinkhole will form

is another.

Geo-hydrologist Carmit Ish Shalom

is trying to do just that.

For years, she measured sinkholes

the "old-fashioned way":

with a measuring tape.

SHALOM: It's very, very sophisticated.

Just throw it down there.

NARRATOR: But for areas where sinkholes are just beginning to develop...

(drone whirring)

...she uses a drone.

SHALOM: We can see the whole sinkhole

from above,

and we can see how big it is.

(drone whirring)

(speaking Hebrew)

SHALOM: Each month, we are monitoring them,

trying to see the changes in the size, in the depth,

how fast they form.

There's many kinds of sinkholes in the world.

The kind that we have here in the Dead Sea is very unique.

NARRATOR: Most sinkholes form in rock, like limestone,

but here at the Dead Sea, they're caused by salt.

♪

As the sea declines,

an underground layer of dry salt is left behind.

Fresh water, like in winter flash floods,

saturates that salt, which quickly dissolves,

creating an underground cavity.

Over time, it grows bigger,

until, suddenly, without warning,

the earth above it caves in.

While the cause of Dead Sea sinkholes is well known,

after 20 years of careful measurement,

there is still no detectable pattern for sinkhole formation.

Each sinkhole seems to follow its own rules.

SHALOM: We don't really know when the next one will form,

next year, or maybe two years from now,

or maybe tomorrow.

It is just a miracle that nobody got hurt or died

in a sinkhole.

NARRATOR: But if the sea doesn't get more water, that could change.

More sinkholes will form--

as many as 500 a year are predicted.

What brought the Dead Sea to such a sorry state?

GAVRIELI: Really, the Dead Sea is the victim.

The Dead Sea is the ultimate victim

of the water shortage in our region.

NARRATOR: To understand why, we travel from the arid desert

to the Sea of Galilee in lush, green Northern Israel.

This sea has played a vital role in the history of the region

as well as the history of the Dead Sea.

MARKEL: The Sea of Galilee

is actually the one and only freshwater lake in Israel

producing water for years for all the country.

NARRATOR: Water from the Sea of Galilee flows south

down an ancient river rich in history.

JONAS BODIN: The Jordan River

is the actual site where John the Baptist

was baptizing Jesus.

NARRATOR: And for thousands of years, the Jordan River

provided a constant supply of water to the Dead Sea.

That is, until a powerful force altered nature's plan-- us.

Back in the 1950s,

when the population of Israel was growing,

the young country was in desperate need of water.

FIXLER: When you have growing needs,

you have to supply more water, not only for agriculture,

but also for domestic use.

NARRATOR: So Israeli engineers came up with a novel idea,

a way to expand the Galilee's reach.

They built the National Water Carrier,

a massive series of open canals, pumps, and pipes

that diverted millions of gallons of water

from the Sea of Galilee.

Water that once flowed down the Jordan River into the Dead Sea

instead went to cities on the Mediterranean coastline

and to the Negev

to make the desert bloom.

FIXLER: And by doing this, we could settle people in the desert.

NARRATOR: But in the process,

the Dead Sea's main source of water

was cut off.

So was an important source of water

for Jordanian and Palestinian farmers and communities.

YANA ABU TALEB: Over 96% of the water

flowing from the Jordan River into the Dead Sea

has been diverted and no longer reaches the Dead Sea.

This is a man-made disaster.

What happened to the Dead Sea

is a man-made disaster.

ATTILI: Those who doesn't know

about the Jordan River,

they think it's like Mississippi or Amazon.

It's a stream, it's not even a stream.

SHALOM: When people closed the Jordan River,

they never thought,

is it safe to do it, is it okay to do it?

NARRATOR: But the National Water Carrier is not the only cause

of the Dead Sea's decline.

♪

Today, Israel and Jordan are mining the sea

for a valuable mineral called potash,

a form of potassium and a key ingredient

used in fertilizers worldwide.

Potash is a major income

and a major employment to Jordanian and Israelis.

For Jordan, this is a business

of half a billion dollars per year.

NARRATOR: And in Israel, along with potash,

the Dead Sea Works produces

a number of products like magnesium chloride,

table salts, and bromide.

It employs thousands of people,

and brings billions into the economy.

RUBINSTEIN: The land of Israel doesn't have

natural resources.

We don't have copper, we don't have steel,

we don't have coal, we don't-- we don't have almost nothing.

We have only one natural resource: the Dead Sea.

♪

NARRATOR: In order to access these resources,

both Israel and Jordan have transformed

the southern part of the Dead Sea

into a series of artificial evaporation ponds.

SHALOM: This is not a sea.

It's, it's part of a factory.

(chuckles)

NARRATOR: The ponds are on average only six feet deep,

which makes it easier to dredge for minerals.

But it also creates a problem

that can best be seen from space.

This satellite image reveals the Dead Sea is divided

into two strikingly different basins:

the northern basin, where sinkholes abound,

and the southern basin, where the potash industry thrives.

As minerals are dredged from the sea,

the shallow ponds need to be replenished.

So the potash industry pumps water

from the northern basin

into the ponds.

These satellite images taken between 1972 and 2011

reveal a stark reality.

As water is pumped out of the northern basin,

it's shrinking.

(truck beeping)

But the potash industry is not the only stakeholder.

♪

So is another industry, and one of Israel's biggest:

tourism,

which brings in $5 billion

to the Israeli economy every year.

♪

This is Ein Bokek,

where tourists come to float in the salty water.

In fact, the sea's high salt content

makes the water so dense,

swimming is almost impossible,

but floating with a book remarkably easy.

♪

Since antiquity, travelers have come here

to bathe in the sea's mineral-rich water,

cherished for its power to heal.

Elisabeth Lietmann has been coming here once a year

since she was 14.

For her, just breathing the air helps treat her eczema,

a debilitating skin disorder.

LIETMANN: It's very painful.

It keeps you from sleeping,

it keeps you from concentrating, keeps you from work.

After about one week, ten days,

the symptoms are mostly gone,

and I'm beautiful again.

NARRATOR: Researchers have discovered the secret

behind Elisabeth's recovery--

minerals.

The Dead Sea has 20 times the potassium,

80 times the bromine,

and 32 times the magnesium of regular seawater.

By normalizing cell growth and reducing inflammation,

magnesium can help heal a variety of skin diseases.

MARCO HARARI: The Dead Sea has plenty

of magnesium.

We have it in the air, in the rocks around us,

in the mountains,

and we have it also in the waters.

So we are the golden city of magnesium.

I've spent the 40 last years of my life here,

and I am still amazed by the results that we can obtain.

♪

NARRATOR: What makes the sea so rich in healing minerals?

Geologist Shmuel Marco has spent decades

exploring the Dead Sea region,

uncovering clues to answer this question.

The sea's unique chemistry is intricately linked

to where and how it formed.

The special thing about this place

is that it's a rupture in the crust of the Earth.

It's where the two pieces of the Earth break from each other.

They move against each other.

NARRATOR: The Dead Sea region was formed

when the crust of the Earth broke into two pieces,

the African plate and the Arabian plate.

As these plates moved against each other,

they formed deep gaps in the surface of the Earth.

About 20,000 years ago,

in the last glacial time,

when glaciers covered large parts of the Earth,

the gap filled with water.

We call it Lake Lisan.

And it filled the whole valley,

from the Sea of Galilee in the north

to the Arava Valley in the south.

NARRATOR: As time passed, Lake Lisan grew smaller and smaller,

eventually turning into the Sea of Galilee,

the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake--

water flows in, but can't flow out,

because it has no outlet.

In this hot, arid desert, it evaporated.

What was left?

Water saturated with salt.

This salty water interacted with the surrounding rocks,

leaving behind a sea rich in minerals.

This abundance of minerals has made the southern basin

an economic powerhouse.

The same can't be said for the northern basin.

The consequences of the sea's decline can be felt everywhere.

This once lucrative date grove, at kibbutz Ein Gedi,

was abandoned after a worker suddenly fell into a sinkhole.

So far, 25 acres of date and mango groves

have been destroyed,

and the number of visitors

to Ein Gedi's world-famous spa

is dwindling.

The beach is so far away,

you need to take a tram to get to the water's edge,

which once came right up to the spa.

All told, by the end of 2017,

Ein Gedi had incurred more than $30 million in damages.

Who knows what will be in the future?

It doesn't sound good.

NARRATOR: Up the road from the spa

is an excavation site, where Gideon Hadas

has spent decades preserving Ein Gedi's rich history.

HADAS: We have a history of 1,000 years of Jewish settlement

from the seventh century BCE

until to the sixth century Common Era.

TAYLOR: This is a region where there's some amazing archaeology.

Whether you are going down on the Israel side

or the Jordan side,

or going into the Palestine National Authority

and going to Jericho,

the archaeology is just fantastic.

EL NASER: The Dead Sea Basin includes

the most important sites for all religions,

Judaism, Christianity, and Muslim.

NARRATOR: The ancient ruins of Masada are here.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves near the sea.

And as the sea has receded,

Gideon even discovered evidence

that ancient ships once sailed here on the salty sea.

HADAS: I was walking on the beach,

I look at this stone,

and I look at it and I look at it.

I say, "Wow, that's a Roman anchor."

NARRATOR: These stone anchors date back to the first century B.C.

TAYLOR: The Dead Sea had trade routes

leading east to Arabia and beyond.

So, it wasn't as disconnected as you might imagine.

It's not a sort of wilderness place

in the back of beyond.

It was really key to ancient economics.

NARRATOR: But today,

the economy on the Israeli side of the northern basin

is imploding,

and no one knows how long living here

will be sustainable.

Just 50 miles away, across the border in Amman, Jordan,

the region's water shortage has also reached

a dangerous threshold.

The country's population, just 900,000 in the 1960s,

has skyrocketed to close to ten million.

In just the last few years,

more than a million refugees have poured in

from war-torn Syria.

The impact of the Syrian refugees on Jordan

is huge,

and this additional demand increases our water demand

by 22%.

NARRATOR: In an effort to conserve,

the government limits the number of days

running water is available.

(translated): Here, in Jordan, we get water once a week,

so we use and store as much as we can

in one day.

NARRATOR: But there's a novel way

women are tackling Jordan's water shortage.

♪

They're learning a new trade:

plumbing.

(translated): When I told my family about the training,

they laughed, because they thought I was joking.

NARRATOR: Many Muslim women are not permitted

to be home alone with a male who is not a family member.

This delays repairs,

and billions of gallons of water

are lost through leaky pipes.

(Shdeafat speaking Arabic)

(translated): If we women learn this job,

we will be better at it than men,

because we are always learning better than men.

NARRATOR: Conservation is making a difference,

but it's not enough.

As the need for water in Jordan and in the Palestinian Authority

becomes more pressing,

it will continue to be an issue.

Water is one of the core issue of the conflict

between Palestinian and Israelis,

but also water is the issue

where the party keep talking to each other,

despite the difficult time.

NARRATOR: This is where

the Red Sea-Dead Sea Conveyance Project

can make a real difference,

and perhaps even end

the region's age-old water shortage.

The key to its success

is a technology Israel has spent decades perfecting:

desalination.

FIXLER: We solved our problems

by manufacturing water.

MARKEL: During the last decade,

Israel has constructed five huge desalination plants

right on the shore of the Mediterranean.

NARRATOR: Desalination, another essential part

of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Project,

is the process of transforming seawater

into fresh water good enough to drink.

Israeli scientists and engineers

spent years improving this process,

making it more affordable.

Seawater is carried by pumps

into massive pools ,

where it passes through a layer of sand.

Large objects like seaweed and the occasional fish

are left behind.

Next, the water travels through fine filters

that remove microscopic particles like bacteria.

The water is then pushed with tremendous force

through sophisticated membranes

that allow smaller water molecules to get through,

but not larger molecules, like salt.

Finally, fresh water makes its way

into the National Carrier system,

and the salty leftovers-- the brine--

is returned to the sea.

Desalination used to require a lot of heat,

and was energy-intensive and costly.

But with new technologies

and advances in membrane design,

the price of water has been cut in half.

Israel has also developed innovative technologies

in drip irrigation

and water recycling.

RUBINSTEIN: We have very good technology.

We can create water.

NARRATOR: This gives Israel a unique technological edge

and a powerful hand on the tap.

At times, it used this power

to limit the flow of water to Palestinians,

which has heightened tensions in this water-scarce region.

But can water be used in a different way?

If we should be wise enough

to use this technology in the right direction,

it will create an incentive in our neighbors

to make peace with us.

That's my hope, that's my dream.

NARRATOR: But even if desalination

provides enough water for the region,

transporting water to where it's needed most

presents a major challenge.

As part of the plan,

the leftover brine from the new desalination plant in Jordan

will be pumped through a pipeline

to the Dead Sea.

The pipeline will be built near an aquifer,

an underground reservoir of fresh water,

used by local farmers in Israel.

And this presents a problem.

The water is seawater, or brine, which is very, very salty,

and if there is something like earthquake,

then the aquifer will be ruined.

MARCO: We have records of earthquakes in this area,

and in particular,

earthquakes around and in the Dead Sea basin.

Throughout history.

Even the Bible describes earthquakes.

(fire rumbling)

TAYLOR: You have the story of Jericho,

where Joshua's armies came through

and the trumpet sounded.

(trumpet blares)

And the walls of Jericho fell down.

(horses neighing, rocks crumbling)

There's been a huge debate

whether there were in fact walls of Jericho

that did come tumbling down at some point

due to an earthquake.

NARRATOR: How often do major earthquakes occur in this region?

The history is well-documented,

etched in the cliffs that surround the Dead Sea.

During the last ice age,

which ended around 12,000 years ago,

this whole area was covered with water.

MARCO: So we are at the bottom of a lake,

and what we see on the cliffs

are the sediments, the deposits, that accumulated

at the bottom of the lake.

What you can see here

is that the rock is composed of two types

of materials.

There's a dark layer and a white layer.

NARRATOR: The darker material is made

from tiny rocks that settled on the bottom of the lake.

It was deposited at the bottom of the lake during floods.

Usually the floods here are in the winter,

so this is a winter deposit.

Now, the white material right here

is considered a summer deposit.

NARRATOR: The summer deposit is made of calcium carbonate,

a white compound found in seashells.

MARCO: And everything stays like this

until something shakes it.

And right about here,

we see the same material, but here it's chaotic.

NARRATOR: The signs of an earthquake.

MARCO: So we have, like, a tape recorder

that recorded earthquakes during 50,000 years.

NARRATOR: But the region's earthquake record

is even longer--

a record provided by the sea itself.

An international group of scientists

drilled 1,500 feet beneath the sea floor...

MARCO: We drilled a hole

about this big.

NARRATOR: ...pulling up cores of ancient sediment

that document environmental changes in the region

over time,

from climate to earthquakes.

MARCO: We reached layers that are dated at 220,000 years,

so all together,

we have a 220,000 years' record of earthquakes.

NARRATOR: And within that record

is evidence of several major earthquakes.

And we know that a couple have occurred

in relatively modern times.

In 1837, the Galilee earthquake shook the region.

In 1927, an earthquake felt from Jerusalem to Jericho

resulted in hundreds of deaths.

We haven't had a serious, serious earthquake, actually,

in the Dead Sea for a while,

and it's sort of due.

NARRATOR: Geologist Shmuel Marco

is concerned whether the Red Sea-Dead Sea pipeline

would survive it.

MARCO: In my opinion, it's very problematic.

It's a large interference with nature,

along an active geological fault with many earthquakes.

ATTILI: Few days ago, there was

100 earthquake registered in one day.

So, there is a risk.

There is a risk of earthquake in this region.

AMATZIA GENIN: So, we are always worried

about what I term megalomanic programs,

"Let's do and change nature."

NARRATOR: The nature marine biologist Amatzia Genin

is striving to protect

is another extraordinary sea: the Red Sea.

1,400 miles long,

a sea so massive, it's twice as large

as all the Great Lakes combined.

Its northeast end is called the Gulf of Aqaba,

and it's home

to some of the most pristine coral reefs on the planet,

rich in color and life.

GENIN: We are here near the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba,

which is part of the Red Sea.

It's a special ocean.

This is the only place,

the only piece of ocean on Earth,

where bleaching has not occurred.

NARRATOR: Corals worldwide

are undergoing a troubling transformation.

As the oceans warm due to climate change,

corals are losing their vibrant color

as they lose something vital for their survival--

algae,

which provides corals with essential nutrients.

They lose the algae,

they become white,

and if they don't reacquire the algae,

they die.

And about half of the corals in Australia,

in the Great Barrier Reef,

about half is gone now because of massive bleaching.

It's a major risk to the coral reef,

and it occurs all over the globe,

except one place on Earth: the Gulf of Aqaba.

NARRATOR: The biological underpinning that makes these reefs so robust

is still unknown.

But scientists think

these corals originated farther south,

and migrated here already accustomed to warmer waters.

GENIN: So we predict that the corals in the Gulf of Aqaba

will have perhaps 100 years more

than any other place on Earth

before bleaching starts to hit these corals.

NARRATOR: Another hundred years

before the temperature of the sea

becomes intolerable.

But this resilient reef could still be at risk

from the new desalination plant

that will be built in Aqaba, Jordan.

There's a concern that when water is pumped out of the sea

and into the desalination plant,

it would take the tiniest forms of life

with it.

GENIN: So, we brought a simple plankton net

that filters the water.

We'll tow it from the boat.

Hopefully we'll get some larvae inside the net.

NARRATOR: In just a few minutes,

Amatzia and researcher Irina Kolesnikov

pull the net from the water

and find that it's teeming with life.

We have here some coral larvae.

NARRATOR: Larvae,

developing snails,

mussels,

crustaceans,

fish,

and budding coral.

All could be put at risk through desalination.

Where the plant will be located

on the Jordanian side of the gulf

is the site of a large concentration of larvae.

GENIN: The coral reefs here

depend on larvae arriving from Jordan.

NARRATOR: And when the desalination plant is built there,

the damage could be irreparable.

GENIN: Lots and lots of larvae will be pumped,

and then delivered to the Dead Sea,

where they will... die.

(talking softly)

GENIN: We are worried that that will have an effect

on the well-being, on the renewal of the coral reef.

NARRATOR: So a team of Israeli and Jordanian scientists

sets out to find a way to minimize the damage.

And they make a discovery.

GENIN: The larvae of the coral reef animals

are much less abundant,

through an order of magnitude less abundant

below where you have sufficient light

for photosynthesis.

We call that the photic layer.

NARRATOR: Pumping below the photic layer,

about 400 feet below the surface,

puts far less life forms at risk.

GENIN: Problem is

that it's very costly.

You need deep-sea divers.

Everything is so much more complex than doing it

at shallower depth.

We say, "You guys are going now to do a project,

"take the water from the Red Sea,

"deliver the water to the Dead Sea.

"This will cost," I don't know,

"hundreds of millions of dollars.

"So invest $2 million more

to build a system that will conserve nature here."

"Invest now and gain big time in the future."

We are all fully aware

of the severe shortage of water in Jordan.

They need water, no doubt.

So we, we really went very willingly

to try and see how we can

mitigate the potential hazard to the coral reef,

and indeed we found it.

NARRATOR: From the Red Sea coral reefs

to a vulnerable pipeline,

to the impact Red Sea water could have

on the unique chemistry of the Dead Sea,

there are many challenges and many unknowns

for the Red Sea-Dead Sea Project.

Could there be a better solution?

Why not simply undo the damage?

Restore the flow of water to the Jordan River

and to the Dead Sea?

The problem is, as the climate warms,

the Sea of Galilee no longer has water to spare.

Since 2013,

the Sea of Galilee has receded 11 and a half feet,

losing more

than a hundred billion gallons of water.

MARKEL: We are facing terrible climate change.

Unbelievable-- five years of drought

and less and less rain.

By the end of 2018,

the water level of the Sea of Galilee

will be close to what we call the black line--

the lowest level ever.

NARRATOR: And it would take an enormous amount of water

from the Sea of Galilee

to stabilize the Dead Sea.

More water than Israel desalinates every year--

as much water as it uses for its entire population.

And desalinating more water presents problems, as well.

GAVRIELI: This is already an issue

that is being discussed in Israel:

what is the impact of the desal?

This, of course, has its price, an environmental price, too;

you increase the volume of reject brine

to the Mediterranean.

There are studies now underway.

How much can you desal before you see the effect?

NARRATOR: So where does the ten-billion-dollar

Red Sea-Dead Sea Project stand?

After years of planning and scientific study,

money still needs to be raised.

But using water as a way to lessen tensions

in this conflict-prone region

is an opportunity that may be too good to pass up.

But will the Dead Sea be even further damaged

by this geopolitical bargain?

The scientists are worried about the impact of the project.

Some believe that instead of trying to "save" the Dead Sea,

we should study it,

to gain a deeper understanding of how nature responds

to the damage we've already caused

in just the last half-century.

GAVRIELI: This is a natural laboratory.

We are witnessing geological processes

that usually happen over periods

of thousands of years, even longer.

And here, what we see, we are observing these processes

on a very short time period,

possibly even at an unprecedented rate,

which allows us also to study them.

I think this is something that is very unique.

In my opinion, nature does not need to be saved

if we treat it with respect.

I would make the whole Dead Sea basin

a geological park.

Because we see things here that we don't see anywhere else.

Some people can see it as damage.

I see it as an interesting geological phenomenon

which is spectacular.

This is a particularly big one.

♪

ATTILI: There is a risk.

If we do the project, there is a risk.

If we don't do the project, there is a risk.

I wish that this project sees the light,

but we have to address thing correctly.

We have to address things wisely.

We have to address

the consequences of climate change.

We have to address also the consequences

of human intervention.

NARRATOR: In Jordan,

the water shortage is getting worse.

EL NASER: Jordan cannot wait.

We don't have time.

Our water resources are drying up.

Our demand is increasing.

We need water.

NARRATOR: And for the Palestinian Authority,

there is also a desperate need for water.

No one can deny the importance of water.

NARRATOR: As for the Dead Sea,

its level continues to decline, with no end in sight.

HADAS: In Yiddish, they used to say:

"Mann Tracht, un Gott Lacht."

That is to say

that "Man is working, and God laughing."

SHALOM: I don't think that the Dead Sea

is really upset that it descends or something,

but it's also, it's only for us.

I don't want to tell my children,

"There used to be a sea here, and it was really nice,

we could float in it, and..."

I want them to be in it and to feel it and to see it.

It's a treasure.

♪

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♪