Dead Sea Shrinking, Sinkholes Emerge
The Dead Sea Is Shrinking by a Meter Annually, Causing Massive Sinkholes to Threaten Coastal Communities
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The Dead Sea is vanishing at a rate of more than one meter every year — and the crisis is accelerating. EcoPeace Middle East confirms the sea has already lost over 35% of its northern surface area since 1960, dropping to a historic low of -439.5 meters below sea level in 2026. What was once a 1,020 square kilometer lake now covers just 605 square kilometers.
The shrinking water is not just an ecological tragedy. It is tearing apart the ground itself. More than 8,200 giant sinkholes have opened along the coastline, swallowing roads, farms, and tourist resorts. "The death of the Dead Sea is a man-made disaster," said Gidon Bromberg of EcoPeace Middle East. "We prioritize political borders over hydrological reality."
How Humans Drained a Sea in 60 Years
The Dead Sea is what scientists call an endorheic lake — it has no outlet and depends entirely on water flowing in from the Jordan River. Historically, the Jordan delivered 1.3 billion cubic meters of water per year. Today, thanks to dams and agricultural diversions built by Israel in 1964 and Jordan in the 1970s, that flow has collapsed to less than 100 million cubic meters — most of it treated sewage and salty runoff, according to National Geographic.
Industrial extraction makes things worse. Two companies — Dead Sea Works in Israel and Arab Potash Company in Jordan — pump hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water into evaporation ponds each year to harvest potash and bromine. The Guardian reports this industrial process accounts for roughly 25-30% of the sea's annual decline. Even ICL Group, which owns Dead Sea Works, admits the sea would still shrink by 70-80 centimeters a year without their operations.
Sinkholes Swallow Roads, Farms, and Hotels
As the saltwater retreats, fresh underground water moves in to fill the gap. That fresh water dissolves ancient salt layers buried beneath the surface, creating enormous underground cavities. When those cavities collapse, the ground above falls in without warning, according to Scientific American. Sinkholes are now forming at nearly two per day in 2026, according to the Geological Survey of Israel.
The damage is enormous. Highway 90 — the longest road in Israel — requires constant rebuilding and faces permanent closure in some sections. The Israel Ministry of Transport estimates rerouting costs at over $150 million. In Jordan, farmers in the Ghor region are losing date palm groves as the ground opens beneath their crops. Once-beachfront resorts in Ein Gedi are now separated from the water by miles of unstable mudflats and craters, effectively wiping out the local tourism industry, analysts at Bloomberg note.
Regional Politics Block the Last Rescue Plans
A 2013 agreement between Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority proposed a 180-kilometer pipeline to pump water from the Red Sea into the Dead Sea. The plan collapsed in 2021 when Jordan scrapped it due to high costs and diplomatic delays, Reuters reported. A replacement "Water-for-Energy" deal — Jordan provides Israel with solar power; Israel provides Jordan with desalinated water — is now the only active proposal on the table.
But progress is slow. Jordan's water minister has been clear: "Our priority is drinking water for Amman," according to The Jordan Times. Israel's Environment Minister Idit Silman acknowledges the sinkholes are "an existential threat to the region's tourism." Environmental groups argue that without forcing mineral companies to pay a tax on the water they evaporate, there is no financial reason for anyone to act, BBC World Service reported.
Without 400 Million Cubic Meters, the Sea Faces a Death Spiral
Scientists say the Dead Sea needs an immediate injection of at least 400-600 million cubic meters of water per year just to slow its decline. Without that, the northern basin will keep retreating, further destabilizing the crust and making the entire coastline too dangerous to inhabit, according to Al Jazeera. The economic toll already stands at an estimated $250 million in lost tourism and infrastructure repairs over the past decade, per the Israeli Finance Ministry.
Some engineers argue that large-scale Mediterranean desalination could one day refill the Sea of Galilee and restore the Jordan River's flow, calling it a fixable engineering problem, The Jerusalem Post reports. But environmental groups counter that the sea is already in an irreversible "death spiral" — and that without political will across three countries, the world's lowest point on Earth will continue to sink deeper into history.
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