A tale of two seas

摘要

It has been a hot, dry summer in the Middle East, and as water levels have plunged, political tensions have risen.rnIn early July, Israel's Water Authority unveiled plans to combat what it called "the worst water crisis in the nation's history". Environmental campaigners responded by slating the Water Authority for not doing enough to protect the region's aquifers. Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities warned of dire consequences if Israel didn't provide them with more water.rnAt the end of July, across the border in Jordan, work began on a $1 billion project to extract 100 million cubic metres of water a year from the Disi aquifer, 320 kilometres south of the capital, Amman. Yet while Jordan is certainly parched and its population is soaring, partly through an influx of Iraqi refugees, critics warn that exploiting the aquifer in this way is unsustainable.rnIn the same week, hundreds of protesters packed a convention centre in Herzliya, Israel, just north of Tel Aviv, to harangue the World Bank about the largest and probably the most controversial water distribution project in the Middle East - the "Red-Dead Conduit", which aims to replenish the shrinking Dead Sea and supply the region with fresh water.