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How did commercial mineral extraction contribute to the Dead Sea’s shrinking water level?

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White salt deposits cover rocks along the shore of the Dead Sea near Masada, Israel, with green water and dramatic cloudy sky in the background. — Dead Sea Salt deposits at the Dead Sea near Masada, Israel.

Commercial mineral extraction has significantly impacted the Dead Sea by necessitating the use of its water for industrial processes. To extract minerals such as potash, magnesium, and bromine, companies operate extensive arrays of evaporation pools, particularly in the southern basin.12

Water is supplied to these pools via artificial canals from the northern basin. This industrial demand, combined with the diversion of the Jordan River—which historically provided nearly all of the lake's water—has been a primary driver of the lake's precipitous decline in water level. By the 21st century, the southern basin had been so heavily subdivided into these evaporation pools that it essentially ceased to function as a natural body of water.1345

While mineral extraction is a major factor, it is part of a broader environmental crisis involving the diversion of river water for commercial and agricultural use, which has caused the lake level to drop by approximately 4 feet (1.2 meters) annually.34