Today, we went to five stops to learn about the Dead Sea and the Jordan River, and four out of the five stops were with Oded Rahav, a man who swam across the dead sea to try and save it. While I was inspired by Oded’s passion to save the Dead Sea, I wondered what was going on politically to make a change. That is when we went to our last stop, a kibbutz where we with a mayor named Idan Grinbaum who runs the Jordan River Council.
However, what does the Jordan River have to do with the Dead Sea? Once a long time, the Jordan River flowed from the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea itself. However, the Sea of Galilee is Israel's water supply, so a dam was built to block water from escaping from their water supply, while there could be solutions to this problem, which goes deeper than that. The Jordan River does not belong solely to Israel, so solutions that Israel may have would have to be run by Jordanins as well. This is difficult because the majority of Jordanians are Palestinians who had to flee the country in 1948, so while we may be at peace with Jordan, the people living there feel resentment towards Israel. In addition, Jordan is a poor country with an average annual income of $4,000, meaning that they do not have enough money for proper sewage or water treatment plants; instead, they dump all their waste into the Jordan River. What happens when you dump waste directly into the sea's only water source? The flow becomes blocked and bacteria contaminate the water, making it even harder for the Dead Sea to revive.
Although solutions in the near future may seem hopeless, we only have about ten years before the Dead Sea dries up, meaning that we need to act quickly. Idan has already met Jordanians on the other side and has a rough plan to save the sea. On the Israeli side, Idan is working to add natural parks and reserves, especially in highly polluted areas, to ensure that pollution in these areas will decrease. On both sides, the river is set to be cleaned, and with the collaboration of Jordanian Idans, it is believed that there will be no more sewage in the Jordan River. However, when asked what the true solution is, Idan says that it is trust. The river does not solely belong to one side, and the actions of one side will directly impact the other so working alone will never bring about progress. Idan also believes that by showing the Jordanians that we care about the impact of this river on them too, it will be a gateway to peace between the two countries. As Idan said, “Trust and trust in people from different countries and cultures should be shown to young people, for it is key that they have hope for a brighter future.”