How low can you get?

The water seems so very blue - and those mountains in the distance are in Jordan — The water seems so very blue – and those mountains in the distance are in Jordan

The answer to that is very low – when you are in Israel.

I got down to 427 metres (that’s 1,401 ft) BELOW sea level – the lowest place on the planet where you can still breathe…

I’m talking about the Dead Sea of course – what an astounding place it is…

It’s a huge body of really really salty water – I mean REALLY salty water.

To be honest – it’s not that nice to swim in. It’s so salty and it’s sort of oily. And if you didn’t wash it off when you got out, I imagine your skin would feel really tacky – not to mention what it would do to your hair.

It's a very strange beach resort - but people come from around the world to swim - or rather float - here. — It’s a very strange beach resort – but people come from around the world to swim – or rather float – here.

But despite that – it is supposed to be good for you. Everyone from King Herod the Great (more about him next week) onwards has come here to take the waters. Some of my Israeli colleagues say they do it two or three times every year. I don’t know if it really is good for the health – but it certainly is beautiful…

The minerals make the most beautiful crystal forms anywhere where the tide exposes rocks to the air. And it's blindingly white. — The minerals make the most beautiful crystal forms anywhere where the tide exposes the wet rocks to air. And it’s blindingly white.

And it’s a great place for people watching…

Inhibitions are abandoned - as people go grubby in public. The mud pack is supposed to be good for the skin. — Inhibitions are abandoned – as people go grubby in public. The mud pack is supposed to be good for the skin.

There is a lot of history around the Dead Sea – which leads me to a sad reality.

It sounds like a line from a b-grade movie – but the Dead Sea is dying. It really is. It’s fed by the Jordan River – and by run off from those fabulous mountains. But a great deal of water is taken from the Jordan upstream for human use by the countries that border the river. And much of the mountain rainwater runoff is now dammed and used to grow dates and other crops.

Then there are the factories drawing minerals from the Dead Sea itself – increasing the already high rate of evaporation. What used to be one great body of water is now cut in half – and shrinking rapidly, with one end turned into mineral factory ponds.

What a sad sight.

These NASA photos show how much it has changed.

There are plans for ditches and pipelines to bring new water supplies from the nearby Red Sea or the Mediterranean. But it seems to me those plans are as much about providing water for human purposes – not just to rescue the Dead Sea. And in other places such drastic rescue attempts have sometimes proved to be environmental disasters themselves.

I guess there isn’t an easy answer… but at least people are trying to find a solution.