Mediterranean–Dead Sea Canal

The Mediterranean–Dead Sea canal (MDSC) is a proposed project to dig a canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, taking advantage of the 400-metre difference in water level between the seas. It is not to be confused with the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance. The project could correct the drop in the level of the Dead Sea observed in recent years. The canal could also be used to generate hydroelectric power because of surface difference and maybe by salinity gradient power, and desalinate water by reverse osmosis.

The idea was first proposed by William Allen in 1855 in a work called 'The Dead Sea – A new route to India'. At that time it was not yet known that the Dead Sea lies below sea level, and Allen proposed this canal as an alternative to the Suez Canal. Later, many engineers and politicians picked up on the idea, including Theodor Herzl in his 1902 novel Altneuland. Most of the early proposals used the East bank of the Jordan River, but a modified form, using the West bank, was proposed after the separation of Transjordan from the Palestine Mandate. The idea was discussed at some length by Willy Ley in Engineers' Dreams, but it was then politically impractical; even the route west of Jordan would have to cross the 1949 armistice line twice.

A detailed project study utilizing the difference in water levels between the Mediterranean sea and the Dead Sea for power generation has been the subject of a first publication by the engineers Wendt and Kelm in the German trade journal Wasserwirtschaft.

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