I’m at the front end of a short-term program, which means I’m both busy and tired. Today I was at the Siloam Pool excavations and they look better than ever! Everything previously exposed is re-exposed (after being buried for a time) and more. A guy there told one in our group that excavations on the garden (towards the center of the pool) will begin in 3 weeks. We will see!
The Washington Post today has an interesting article on the Dead Sea drying up (regular link with charts; printable link-one page). It’s worth reading, if the Dead Sea is a “hobby” study issue for you, as it is for me. A few comments:
Interesting fact: The north end of the Dead Sea is quickly shrinking (3 feet/year), but the south end is rising and threatening hotels.
Interesting fact #2: In 150 years, as the Dead Sea keeps shrinking, the water will become so saturated that evaporation will stop (the water level will be 434 feet lower than now!).
Stupid quote award: “You don’t have to be Jesus to walk across the Dead Sea anymore” (Gidon Bromberg, Friends of the Earth environmentalist).
Why there’s a problem: Previously about 1.3 billion cubic meters flowed into the Dead Sea each year; currently only 100 million cu. m. does.
And there’s more. By the way, I recently came across some photos showing the Jordan River a mile wide. Very impressive. And it’ll never happen again.