The Dead Sea, also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.
The geography of Israel is very diverse, with desert conditions in the south, and snow-capped mountains in the north. Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, the northeast by Syria, the east by Jordan and the West Bank, and to the southwest by Egypt. To the west of Israel is the Mediterranean Sea, which makes up the majority of Israel's 273 km (170 mi) coastline, and the Gaza Strip. Israel has a small coastline on the Red Sea in the south.
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology. Related terms include aquitard, which is a bed of low permeability along an aquifer, and aquiclude, which is a solid, impermeable area underlying or overlying an aquifer, the pressure of which could lead to the formation of a confined aquifer. The classification of aquifers is as follows: Saturated versus unsaturated; aquifers versus aquitards; confined versus unconfined; isotropic versus anisotropic; porous, karst, or fractured; transboundary aquifer.
Water extraction is the process of taking water from any source, either temporarily or permanently, for flood control or to obtain water for, for example, irrigation. The extracted water could also be used as drinking water after suitable treatment.
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from the surface; it may discharge from the surface naturally at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.
Saltwater intrusion is the movement of saline water into freshwater aquifers, which can lead to groundwater quality degradation, including drinking water sources, and other consequences. Saltwater intrusion can naturally occur in coastal aquifers, owing to the hydraulic connection between groundwater and seawater. Because saline water has a higher mineral content than freshwater, it is denser and has a higher water pressure. As a result, saltwater can push inland beneath the freshwater. In other topologies, submarine groundwater discharge can push fresh water into saltwater.
The Floridan aquifer system, composed of the Upper and Lower Floridan aquifers, is a sequence of Paleogene carbonate rock which spans an area of about 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) in the southeastern United States. It underlies the entire state of Florida and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a hydrological process which commonly occurs in coastal areas. It is described as submarine inflow of fresh-, and brackish groundwater from land into the sea. Submarine groundwater discharge is controlled by several forcing mechanisms, which cause a hydraulic gradient between land and sea. Considering the different regional settings the discharge occurs either as (1) a focused flow along fractures in karst and rocky areas, (2) a dispersed flow in soft sediments, or (3) a recirculation of seawater within marine sediments. Submarine groundwater discharge plays an important role in coastal biogeochemical processes and hydrological cycles such as the formation of offshore plankton blooms, hydrological cycles, and the release of nutrients, trace elements and gases. It affects coastal ecosystems and has been used as a freshwater resource by some local communities for millennia.
The Yarragadee Aquifer is a significant freshwater aquifer located in the south west of Western Australia and predominantly beneath the Swan Coastal Plain west of the Darling Scarp. It has a north–south range from about Geraldton to the south coast, but with a split in the formation south of Perth, Western Australia. The southern part is known as the South West Yarragadee Aquifer.
Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two type of water scarcity. One is physical. The other is economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet all demands. This includes water needed for ecosystems to function. Regions with a desert climate often face physical water scarcity. Central Asia, West Asia, and North Africa are examples of arid areas. Economic water scarcity results from a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers, or other water sources. It also results from weak human capacity to meet water demand. Many people in Sub-Saharan Africa are living with economic water scarcity.
Water supply and sanitation in Israel are intricately linked to the historical development of Israel. Because rain falls only in the winter, and largely in the northern part of the country, irrigation and water engineering are considered vital to the country's economic survival and growth. Large scale projects to desalinate seawater, direct water from rivers and reservoirs in the north, make optimal use of groundwater, and reclaim flood overflow and sewage have been undertaken. Among them is the National Water Carrier, carrying water from the country's biggest freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee, to the northern part of the Negev desert through channels, pipes and tunnels. Israel's water demand today outstrips available conventional water resources. Thus, in an average year, Israel relies for about half of its water supply on unconventional water resources, including reclaimed water and desalination. A particularly long drought in 1998–2002 had prompted the government to promote large-scale seawater desalination. In 2022, 85% of the country's drinkable water was produced through desalination of saltwater and brackish water.
The water resources of Palestine are de facto fully controlled by Israel, and the division of groundwater is subject to provisions in the Oslo II Accord.
Wadi Qana is a wadi with an intermittent stream meandering westwards from Huwara, south of Nablus, in the West Bank, Palestine, down to Jaljulia in Israel, from where it flows into the Yarkon River, of which it is a tributary.
The geography of the State of Palestine refers to the geographic, climatic and other properties of the areas claimed by State of Palestine. Palestine is 163rd largest country in the world, in terms of claimed areas. The country is bordered by Israel to the east, north and west, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the southwest and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The country also shares maritime borders with Israel, Cyprus and Egypt. Located in the Levant, Palestine is part of the Middle Eastern region in Asia.
Israel–Palestine relations refers to the political, security, economical and other relations between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine. Israel and the PLO began to engage in the late 1980s and early 1990s in what became the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, culminated with the Oslo Accords in 1993. Shortly after, the Palestinian National Authority was established and during the next 6 years formed a network of economic and security connections with Israel, being referred to as a fully autonomous region with self-administration. In the year 2000, the relations severely deteriorated with the eruption of the Al-Aqsa Intifada – a rapid escalation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The events calmed down in 2005, with reconciliation and cease fire. The situation became more complicated with the split of the Palestinian Authority in 2007, the violent split of Fatah and Hamas factions, and Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas takeover resulted in a complete rift between Israel and the Palestinian faction in the Gaza Strip, cancelling all relations except limited humanitarian supply.
The State of Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world, at around 20,000 sq. km, and has relatively few natural resources. Due to its limited space, semi-arid climate, high population growth and resource scarcity, Israel is highly susceptible to environmental crises. These include water shortages and pollution, shrinking of the Dead Sea, waste production and disposal, air pollution and population density. As a result, resource development, in particular water, has benefited from relatively high government support throughout most of the country's history. For example, Israel's water conservation and reclamation infrastructure is one of the most advanced in the world, with approximately half its water supply derived from reclaimed and treated waste water, brackish water and desalinated water.
The State of California enforces several methodologies through technical innovation and scientific approach to combat saltwater intrusion in areas vulnerable to saltwater intrusion. Seawater intrusion is either caused by groundwater extraction or increased in sea level. For every 1-foot of freshwater depression (0.30 m), sea-salty waters rises 40 feet (12 m) as the cone of depression forms. Salinization of groundwater is one of the main water pollution ever produced by mankind or from natural processes. It degrades water quality to the point it passes acceptable drink water and irrigation standards.
Israel, the Israeli water company Mekorot, and Israeli settlers have expropriated springs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by Israel. The springs and wells, to which Palestinians have a human right in international law, are appropriated exclusively for use by Israelis and visiting tourists.
Coastal Hydrogeology is a branch of Hydrogeology that focuses on the movement and the chemical properties of groundwater in coastal areas. Coastal Hydrogeology studies the interaction between fresh groundwater and seawater, including seawater intrusion, sea level induced groundwater level fluctuation, submarine groundwater discharge, human activities and groundwater management in coastal areas.
An anchialine system is a landlocked body of water with a subterranean connection to the ocean. Depending on its formation, these systems can exist in one of two primary forms: pools or caves. The primary differentiating characteristics between pools and caves is the availability of light; cave systems are generally aphotic while pools are euphotic. The difference in light availability has a large influence on the biology of a given system. Anchialine systems are a feature of coastal aquifers which are density stratified, with water near the surface being fresh or brackish, and saline water intruding from the coast at depth. Depending on the site, it is sometimes possible to access the deeper saline water directly in the anchialine pool, or sometimes it may be accessible by cave diving.
