The Dead Sea has attracted visitors for thousands of years who come to float in its salty waters and reap its reported health benefits.
But the attraction's days could be numbered after experts discovered the sea's water level is dropping by an average of one metre every year.
The drop in levels is thought to have been caused by more water flowing out of the sea than into it from the Jordan River.
The first measurements were taken in 1927 and since then the waters, made famous in Biblical stories, have declined.
They are being monitored by the Israeli Geological Institute of Limnological Research which uses a small research buoy floating in the centre of the sea to measure its depth.
The marker measures the water level near the Dead Sea coastal resort of Ein Gedi, Israel.
It is estimated that the Dead Sea’s water level has dropped by more than 131ft (40 metres) since the 1950s.
The low level has been blamed on the imbalance between the amount of incoming and outgoing water.
In particular, experts said there has been a large reduction of water flowing into the sea from the Jordan River.
This may be due to the water saturating the land, or being taken from the river for various reasons.
The Dead Sea, known as the Sea of Salt, separates Israel and Jordan.
It is so-called, because its high salt content, which is almost 10 times as salty as the ocean, prevents fish and plants from living in it.
The sea’s surface and shores are 1,407ft (429 metres) below sea level, making it the Earth’s lowest elevation on land.
And at 997ft (304metres) deep, it is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world.
This has been attributed to the increased consumption of water within the Jordan River and irrigation drainage basin.
Water resources in the region are in demand and affect Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan that border the basin.
Evidence of the water scarcity manifests itself as exposed sinkholes, cracked mud flats, damaged plants and even a derelict water park.
(dailymail.co.uk)
ANN.Az
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