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The Israelis ran into this problem with their mineral extraction in the Dead Sea, so they're bulldozing the dry salt waste to build a physical wall for border s
by superq 3y ago
The Israelis ran into this problem with their mineral extraction in the Dead Sea, so they're bulldozing the dry salt waste to build a physical wall for border security (more than 10 meters high) that's apparently hard to climb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgTheUjeDlg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgTheUjeDlg
- nly 3y agoErrrr...rain? Runoff?
- dekelpilli 3y agoAnswered at 2:16 of the video - the claim is that the rain actually helps, as it makes the "mountain" steeper.
- ChiperSoft 3y agoYeah, but it runs along a river… which will now be salinated every time it rains.
- sh34r 3y agoI did a bit of Googling. It’s a desalination plant on the Dead Sea. That is the Jordan River. The stretch they are building the salt wall on is barren desert land. Jericho is the nearest town, 18,000 people, 8” of rain a year, 2 miles from the border. They presumably get their water from that desalination plant. No towns that far south are getting their water from it. The river barely even makes it to the Dead Sea anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River#Main_environmental_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River#Main_environmenta... Adding a bit more salt into the famously-salty Dead Sea are the least of their problems in that part of the world. Where else would you put the salt, anyway? Putting it all into the Dead Sea would be even worse —- at least this reduces the amount that makes it back there. Putting it into any other watershed would cause vastly more harm. It seems like a good enough solution to me. If you think about it, it wouldn’t be in Israel’s interests to inflame tensions with Jordan over this, if it were really an issue.
- pjc50 3y agoWell that's impressively bonkers. That's a geological feature that will baffle future generations.
- niemandhier 3y agoThat will make the region hostile to life for 1000s of years even if climate patterns were to change.
- refurb 3y agoIt’s literally meters away from the Dead Sea that has salt crystallizing on the beaches. Ain’t changing anything in the environment.
- oska 3y agoThey obviously are changing the environment. You'd need a proper environmental impact statement to determine what the negative aspects of these changes are. I wonder if one was done?
- refurb 3y agoBy that definition, when my kid goes to the beach and digs a hole in the sand and fills it with water they are "changing the environment". Do we need a proper environmental impact statement to determine the negative aspects of these changes? Come on. They are literally moving salt a few meters.
- DropInIn 3y agoNo, they are fundamentally changing the salts state and manner of interaction with the environment. What do giant piles of salt do aside from melt and "burn" whatever they touch? That's right, they Spread.
- JacobAldridge 3y agoThat’s a Lot of salt…
- DropInIn 3y agoSo they plan to build a wall in illegally occupied territory and salt the earth in a way that ensures thier neighbors land is useless? JFC that country is fucking evil