Waters of the Jordan Valley
by Rik Charbonneaux

"As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought," Job 14:11 NLT

The same river, seas and watersheds of the Jordan Valley in Israel that we all hold dear to our hearts from the Bible are likely to go dry by 2050 from drought and demand.*

Although water conservation is highly emphasised and enforced in Israel, their water sources, including de-salination sources, cannot keep up with the ever increasing water demands of the people, industry, mining and agricultural.

Further, The current sustained drought (Israel received only 10% of normal rainfall last year) is also making the water of the Jordan Valley more polluted due to increased evaporation raising the mineral concentrations.

At present, the flow of the Jordan River is 3.3 cms instead of the normal 7 cms and the Sea of Galilee ( el 656 feet below sea level.) is at its lowest in 97 years.**

In addition to the drought allowing less water to flow into the Dead Sea, a portion of the existing waters of the Jordan have been diverted directly for agricultural use since 1967, which also decreases the amount of water flowing into the Dead Sea. Further, when the Jordanians dammed the river Yarmukh earlier, a substantial water supply was also cut off from the Jordan Valley.

For all these reasons, the water level of the Dead Sea ( el.1,412 feet below sea level) is dropping about 1 meter per year and is becoming even more concentrated with salt and other minerals.***

If you have the opportunity to visit this land and waters of the bible, do so if you can. The flow of waters of the River Jordan could become a trickle in just thirty years if the drought and demands for water make it so. In reality, there is very little natural flow in the River Jordan occurring today.

Note: These are all serious and valid concerns with great consequence for the future of Israel, yet this wonderful nation shares and provides water to the Palestinians. All things considered, Israel's continuous efforts to be a good neighbor to all those around her is a lesson for us all.****

*Dead Sea, River Jordan where Jesus was baptized, shrinking fast in ‘disaster,' experts say" CP World January 03, 2019

**The Times of Israel 6/4/17 "Water flow into Sea of Galilee at lowest level in a century"

***Jewish Virtual Library -2018, Water in Israel: Israel’s Chronic Water 

**** Key to Israel's ability to choose to provide for the water needs of the Palestinians is a strong air defense system, including the U.S. Iron Dome Missile Defense System, as there is only a two-minute window to detect and intercept any missile fired into Israel from the Palestinian held territories. The last Iron Dome intercept of a missile fired against Israel at the time of this writing was January 22, 2019.



Rik Charbonneaux is a retired NE Iowan who loves all of God's Word and all of His creatures.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com







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