The World Bank-approved Red to Dead sea project is billed as an endeavor to save Jordan, Israel and Palestine's receding Dead Sea. But environmentalists maintain, and project planners admit, the twelve-billion dollar undertaking is also largely about something else. In part three of our red to dead sea project series, CGTN's Stephanie Freid takes us to Jordan to find out how the Syrian refugee crisis is driving the regional deal. 

 

GUNDI SHAHAR, ENVIRONMENTALIST ECOPEACE "Who asked for the project first-hand? Jordan. Because they need water. Jordan is one of the water scarcest countries in the world." 

 

STEPHANIE FREID JORDAN "Jordan is in water crisis mode. Compounding the problem of all the countries hosting refugees, Jordan falls into the slot. There are now one point five million Syrians living in Jordan - that has driven water consumption up by 22%. "

 

The Hashemite Kingdom is in the world's slot when it comes to water scarcity. Consider this: the average American consumes nine thousand cubic meters of water a year. The average Jordanian one hundred and fifty. 

 

PROFESSOR ELIAS SALAMEH UNIVERSITY OF JORDAN "The options are very very limited. From inside the country we don't have additional resources. We developed all of our surface and ground water resources to the extreme."  

 

Which is why major components of the Red to Dead Project focus on producing water for Jordan. 

 

ODED FIXLER, DIRECTOR RED TO DEAD SEA PROJECT "It's a project which will bring fresh water to Jordan. But also to Israel." 

 

Umbrella'd within the venture is a trilateral water swap deal and plans for building the world's biggest desalination plant. Desalinated, potable water will go to Israel and Jordan and water exchanges between all three sides - including a Sea of Galilee water sale - will double Jordan's water consumption levels. The deal is complicated, involves a lot of moving parts and has taken decades to sign. And environmentalists maintain, saving the Dead Sea is not the priority. 

 

GUNDI SHAHAR, ENVIRONMENTALIST ECOPEACE "They said: 'If we say we want to save the Dead Sea and on the way to the Dead Sea we will desalinate water, it will give us electricity and then we will pump the water up from the Dead Sea to Amman. The first priority of Jordan: to get fresh water for their thirsty population." 

 

Currently in the bidding stage, phase one of the project is projected to begin in two years. Stephanie Freid, CGTN, Jordan.