About 95% of the traditional waters of the river where John the Baptist was said to have christened Jesus are now sucked dry for drinking water and agricultural and industrial purposes before it can reach the Dead Sea. And the trickle of water that still flows into the Jordan below the Sea of Galilee has been badly contaminated by human waste, fertilizers and chemicals used for farming and fish farming.

Because the only tiny stretch of the Jordan that is still relatively clean is at Yardenit, which is in Israel about 80 kilometres from where Jesus was believed to have been baptized near Jericho, Christians from all over the world come by the bus full to be dunked in the waters at the exquisite oasis, which still teems with exotic plant and bird life.

“The story of the Lower Jordan has been of the most beautiful water management co-operation between Jordan, Syria, the Palestinians and Israel to destroy the river,” Gidon Bromberg said with quiet sarcasm as he led a group of visitors on a 200- kilometre bus journey along the Jordan from the Galilee to the quickly receding waters of the Dead Sea.

As the Israeli Director for Friends of the Earth Middle East, which very unusually for the war-plagued region also has Palestinian and Jordanian chapters, Mr. Bromberg leads regular tours to explain to area and foreign officials, as well as area and foreign journalists the sad recent history of the Jordan and the lethal effect the river’s many problems have had on the Dead Sea, which at 418 metres below sea level, is the lowest point and has the saltiest water on the planet.

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