Crossing the River Jordan

Symbolically, it flows powerfully through Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But today, the Lower Jordan River is a mess

According to the Canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and the apocryphal Gospel of the Hebrews, Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River.

Elijah crossed it and rode a chariot of fire into Heaven. Elisha used the river's water to cure lepers. Joshua crossed it into Canaan. It was a prominent part of the Prophet Muhammad's nighttime journey from Mecca to al-Quds (Jerusalem). The Qur’an says that God blessed the land of the Jordan River Valley "for all beings."

"The Lower Jordan River is arguably the most famous river in the world, of international significance to more than half of humanity due to its rich natural and cultural heritage and its symbolic value and importance to the three monotheistic religions," Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) said in a statement from Tel Aviv.

In a May 2010 trilateral FoEME report entitled "Towards a Living Jordan River: An Environmental Flows Report on the Rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River," researchers from Israel's Ruppin Academic Center, Palestine's Al Quds University and Jordan's University of Science and Technology found that:

• The Lower Jordan River (LJR) today is a highly degraded system due to severe flow reduction and water quality decline.
• Over 98% of the historic flow of the LJR is diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan for domestic and agricultural uses and are discharging untreated sewage, agricultural run-off, saline water and fish pond effluent into it.
  
• The remaining flow consists primarily of sewage, fish pond waters, agricultural run-off, and saline water diverted from the LJR from salt springs around the Sea of Galilee.
• The river has lost over 50% of its biodiversity primarily due to a total loss of fast flow habitats and floods and the high salinity of the water.
• Long stretches of the LJR are expected to be completely dry unless urgent action is taken by the parties to return fresh water to the river.

The water of the LJR poses a health risk to the tourists and pilgrims bathing at the river's holy baptism site, FoEME says. The group has urged Israel to close the site to the public until the water quality is improved. Approximately 100,000 tourists visit every year.

FoEME recommends that Israel undertake an experimental flood of the LJR developed by Yale University, citing that "floods are essential to healthy river ecology." They also recommend the development of a master plan for the LJR, the establishment of an international commission to manage the basin and that Palestine receive a fair share of the river's water resources "as part of the Middle East peace negotiations."

The Gospel of Mark notes that the people of Judea and Jerusalem were all baptized by John the Baptist "in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins." The governments of Israel, Syria and Jordan should remember this Biblical story, confess the sins they have committed on this critical water source and make plans to rehabilitate it.

image: Christophe Unterberger, "Crossing the Jordan River," 1780s (Hermitage Museum)