Report: Red Sea could help restore Dead Sea

JERUSALEM -- It is possible to use the Red Sea to replenish the shrinking Dead Sea, the World Bank has determined after years of studying whether such a connecting lifeline could work.

The idea of linking the two bodies of water has been around for more than a century. The project took on a new urgency when the shore of the Dead Sea was found to be receding at a rate of 3.3 feet every year. A World Bank report said an underground pipeline would be the best way to channel water from the Red Sea 112 miles north to replenish the Dead Sea, located at the lowest spot on Earth.

Environmental groups blasted the report, warning of adverse effects, such as the chance of new algae and mineral deposits changing the Dead Sea's color or underground fresh water springs becoming polluted with seawater.-- Reuters