Dead Sea Works
The Dead Sea Works Ltd. is an Israeli industrial enterprise specializing in the extraction and processing of minerals from the Dead Sea brines, primarily producing potash for fertilizers, bromine compounds, magnesium metals, and industrial salts through solar evaporation methods.[1][2] Established in 1952 as a state-owned successor to the pre-independence Palestine Potash Company founded in 1930, the facility at Sodom on Israel's Dead Sea coast transformed the region's hypersaline waters into a major source of chemical raw materials, leveraging the sea's unique high mineral concentrations—including over 30% salts—to support global agriculture and industry.[2][3] Operations span approximately 150 square kilometers in the southern Dead Sea basin, where seawater is pumped into evaporation ponds to crystallize potash (potassium chloride) and other outputs, making it one of the world's largest potash producers by volume.[1][4] As a core subsidiary of Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), the Dead Sea Works has driven economic development in the arid Negev region, employing thousands and contributing significantly to Israel's export revenues through products essential for food production and specialized chemicals, while recent initiatives focus on energy efficiency and renewable power integration at the site.[5][6] The process, however, involves substantial water diversion that empirically correlates with observed declines in Dead Sea levels, prompting ongoing debates over long-term environmental sustainability despite technological adaptations.[7]History
Pre-Establishment Exploration and Challenges
The Dead Sea's mineral wealth, including potash, bromides, and salts, attracted early modern interest during the late Ottoman period, driven by Europe's demand for fertilizers and chemicals following disruptions in German potash supplies during World War I. In 1906, Russian-Jewish mining engineer Moshe Novomeysky, while studying in Germany, identified the Dead Sea's hypersaline brine—estimated at 34% salinity, far exceeding typical seawater—as a potential source for industrial extraction via solar evaporation, prompting his initial application to Ottoman authorities in 1907 for salt extraction rights. He conducted his first on-site survey in 1911, analyzing brine samples and confirming high concentrations of potassium chloride (around 0.5-1% by weight) suitable for potash production, though Ottoman bureaucracy and local rival claims, such as those by Palestinian merchant Ibrahim Hazboun starting in 1913 for bromine and asphalt exploitation, delayed progress. Ottoman concessions for bromine extraction issued around the same time were ultimately annulled amid administrative instability.[8][9][10] World War I and the 1917 British conquest of Palestine further stalled explorations, as military priorities overrode civilian ventures, leaving the remote Dead Sea region—situated at 430 meters below sea level with extreme temperatures exceeding 50°C in summer and minimal freshwater access—largely unexploited industrially. Under the British Mandate established in 1920, renewed interest emerged from Britain's strategic need for potash independence, with government surveys in the early 1920s estimating recoverable reserves in the billions of tons, yet facing technical hurdles like unpredictable evaporation rates (dependent on seasonal winds and humidity), corrosive brine damaging equipment, and seismic risks from the Dead Sea Transform fault. Logistical challenges compounded these issues: the area's isolation required arduous camel or early motor transport over unpaved tracks to distant railheads at Jerusalem or Haifa, inflating costs estimated at £100,000-£200,000 for initial infrastructure, while sparse Bedouin populations and lack of skilled labor hindered site assessments.[11][12] Political and territorial disputes intensified barriers, including Arab opposition to foreign concessions perceived as favoring Zionist interests and a 1922 boundary delimitation between Palestine and Transjordan that reserved the northern Dead Sea shoreline for potential extraction while complicating southern access. Competing bids, such as Hazboun's persistent lobbying through the 1920s backed by local Palestinian elites, clashed with Novomeysky's alliances with British officials and Zionist financiers, prolonging negotiations until a 1927 provisional agreement evolved into the formal 1930 concession for Palestine Potash Limited after years of geological sampling and feasibility studies confirming viability despite the risks. These pre-establishment efforts underscored the interplay of geopolitical maneuvering and environmental harshness, with early explorers documenting sinkhole formations and flash flood dangers that threatened operations.[11][9][12]Founding and Post-Independence Revival
The Palestine Potash Company, predecessor to the Dead Sea Works, was founded in 1929 by Moshe Novomeysky, a Russian-Jewish mining engineer, following a concession granted after negotiations that began in 1921.[3][13] The company established its first extraction plant at Kalia on the northern shore of the Dead Sea in 1930, followed by a larger facility at Sodom on the southwestern shore in 1934, enabling commercial production of potash and other minerals from the hypersaline waters.[14][13] During the 1948 War of Independence, the northern Kalia plant fell into Jordanian-controlled territory and was destroyed, while the southern Sodom plant was shut down amid hostilities.[14][13] Israel nationalized the Sodom plant in 1951 and formally established the Dead Sea Works in 1952 as a government-led enterprise, with the Israeli government holding 51% voting rights, the original Palestine Potash Company retaining 25%, and new Israeli investors at 24%.[13][15] The revival initiative included raising $7 million for re-equipping the facilities and constructing a new road from Be'er Sheva to Sodom, completed in 1953, to restore access and production.[14][15] By 1955, a new plant at Sodom was operational, targeting initial output of 150,000 tons of potash annually and scaling to 300,000 tons by the following year, positioning Israel as a significant exporter of chemicals and generating approximately $12 million in hard currency.[14][15] This state-private partnership model avoided full nationalization while prioritizing rapid resumption of mineral extraction from southern Dead Sea sources, which remained under Israeli control.[15]Expansion Under Concession and Technological Advancements
Following Israel's independence in 1948, the Dead Sea Works, previously operating as the Palestine Potash Company, faced significant infrastructure damage from wartime conflicts but underwent rapid revival and nationalization under government control. Established as a state-owned entity in 1952, it secured an exclusive concession for mineral extraction from the Dead Sea, formalized through the 1961 Dead Sea Concession Law, which granted rights to extract potash, bromine, magnesium, and other chemicals until 2030.[16][2] This concession enabled substantial expansions, including the development of larger solar evaporation ponds and pipelines to transport brine from the northern to southern Dead Sea basin, facilitating increased throughput. By the 1970s, consolidation into Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) in 1975 further supported infrastructure growth, with potash production surging from 8,000 tons annually in 1948 to over 2.8 million tons by 1998.[2][17] Technological advancements were pivotal to this expansion, particularly innovations in efficient, low-energy extraction processes. The adoption of a two-stage cold crystallization method, developed in Dead Sea Works laboratories, allowed for potash (KCl) production at moderate temperatures, significantly reducing energy costs compared to traditional heating techniques and enabling higher yields from carnallite deposits.[18] In the early 1980s, a breakthrough technique increased potash concentration in brine from 2% to 23% by recirculating excess brine through production basins, effectively doubling output without proportional increases in resource input.[17] Complementary developments included selective sedimentation in evaporation ponds to isolate minerals like carnallite and the establishment of specialized facilities, such as the Sodom bromine plant with a 250,000 metric tons per year capacity and the 1996 Dead Sea Magnesium project, Israel's largest industrial initiative at the time.[2][17] These innovations, bolstered by process computerization for conveyor systems and monitoring, minimized operational costs and elevated Dead Sea Works to a global leader, exporting to over 65 countries while maintaining a workforce that grew only modestly to 2,200 by the late 1990s despite exponential production gains.[18][17]Operations and Production
Extraction and Processing Methods
Dead Sea Works extracts minerals from the Dead Sea through solar evaporation of brine pumped from the northern basin to a series of shallow ponds in the southern basin.[2] The process begins with brine transfer via pipelines, followed by staged evaporation where solar heat concentrates the solution, causing sequential precipitation of salts. In initial ponds, halite (sodium chloride) crystallizes and settles on the pond floors due to supersaturation from water loss.[19] The denser, potash-enriched brine then advances to subsequent ponds, where carnallite (potassium magnesium chloride hexahydrate) precipitates as the primary potash-bearing mineral.[20] Harvesting involves mechanical collection of precipitated solids. Halite layers are dredged from pond bottoms using specialized equipment, while carnallite forms a slurry that is suctioned through intake valves by floating harvesters and transported via pipelines to processing facilities.[20] This slurry harvesting operates continuously, enabling 24-hour production cycles. Post-harvest, carnallite undergoes chemical decomposition in dedicated plants employing cold or hot leach-crystallization methods to yield potassium chloride (potash) fertilizer.[20] The process separates potassium from magnesium components, with magnesium chloride solutions directed to electrolysis for metal magnesium production.[21] Bromine extraction utilizes the residual bittern brines after potash recovery, where concentrated Dead Sea water reacts with chlorine gas in the presence of superheated steam to liberate elemental bromine as a liquid.[22] The bromine plant at Sodom processes up to 250,000 metric tons annually, supporting applications in flame retardants and industrial compounds.[2] Byproducts like industrial salts and magnesia are also refined from pond precipitates, maximizing resource utilization through this evaporation-driven cascade.[1]Key Facilities and Infrastructure
The Dead Sea Works, operated by Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), maintains its primary operations in the southern basin of the Dead Sea near Sodom, encompassing a complex of evaporation ponds, processing plants, and supporting infrastructure spanning approximately 150 km².[23] These facilities include nine production plants dedicated to mineral extraction and refinement, situated on an area of 180 hectares.[23] Central to the infrastructure are the vast solar evaporation ponds, which cover extensive tracts of the southern Dead Sea basin and facilitate the concentration of brine through natural solar evaporation.[24] Brine is transported from intake points in the northern Dead Sea via a network of pipelines and canals spanning over 100 km, enabling the delivery of approximately 350 million cubic meters of water annually to support extraction processes.[25] Large-scale pumps draw hypersaline water into the system, directing it to the ponds where potash, salt, and other minerals precipitate sequentially.[24] Processing occurs at specialized plants, including the main potash facility in Sodom, which refines potassium chloride from crystallized carnallite harvested from the ponds.[13] Additional infrastructure supports bromine extraction and magnesium production, integrated within the southern complex.[3] A combined heat and power (CHP) plant, commissioned in 2025, provides efficient energy generation using gas turbines and heat recovery steam generators, reducing reliance on external power and operating on a private electric grid for continuous production uptime.[26][27] Supporting logistics include conveyor systems for mineral transport from ponds to plants and connections to rail and road networks for export, underscoring the site's role as a major industrial hub.[18] Periodic maintenance of pipelines and engineering facilities ensures operational integrity amid the challenging hypersaline and seismic environment.[16]Output Statistics and Capacity
The Dead Sea Works (DSW), a subsidiary of ICL Group, primarily extracts potash (potassium chloride), bromine, magnesium, and salt via solar evaporation of Dead Sea brines, with annual production volumes reflecting steady operations constrained by evaporation pond capacities and market demand. Potash constitutes the largest output, averaging approximately 3.8 million metric tons per year from 2017 to 2023, representing about 4% of global potash production capacity.[16][7] Production reached 3.9 million metric tons in both 2020 and 2021, with an estimated facility capacity of 4.2 million metric tons annually.[21] Bromine production, derived from residual brines post-potash extraction, averaged around 170,000 metric tons annually over the same 2017–2023 period, with outputs of 173,000 metric tons in 2020 and 182,000 metric tons in 2021.[21][16] The Sodom bromine plant supports a capacity of up to 280,000 metric tons per year, positioning ICL as the global leader in elemental bromine production.[21][16] Magnesium output, primarily as metallic magnesium from magnesium chloride byproducts, averaged about 20,000 metric tons per year from 2017 to 2023, with specific figures of 18,500 metric tons in 2020 and 18,211 metric tons in 2021 against a capacity of 24,000 metric tons.[21][16] Salt production, a key evaporation pond byproduct, totaled 275,000 metric tons in 2020 and 262,000 metric tons in 2021, with a capacity of 700,000 metric tons annually.[21]| Product | Average Annual Production (2017–2023, metric tons) | Recent Output Examples (metric tons) | Capacity (metric tons/year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potash | 3,800,000 | 3,900,000 (2020–2021) | 4,200,000 |
| Bromine | 170,000 | 173,000 (2020); 182,000 (2021) | 280,000 |
| Magnesium | 20,000 | 18,500 (2020); 18,211 (2021) | 24,000 |
| Salt | Not specified in averages | 275,000 (2020); 262,000 (2021) | 700,000 |
Products and Economic Role
Primary Products and Byproducts
The Dead Sea Works, a subsidiary of Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), primarily extracts and processes minerals from Dead Sea brines to produce potash, bromine, and magnesium-based products. Potash, predominantly potassium chloride (KCl), serves as the core output, supporting global fertilizer demand with production volumes reaching approximately 3.9 million metric tons in 2020, marking a record high following a 15% increase from 2019 levels.[21] This operation leverages solar evaporation ponds spanning over 150 km² in the southern Dead Sea basin to concentrate and crystallize the minerals.[1] Bromine, extracted through advanced chemical processes from the concentrated brines, constitutes another major product, with ICL's facility near Sodom boasting a capacity of 250,000 metric tons per year as of 2015; it finds applications in industrial compounds like flame retardants.[2] Magnesium products, including magnesium chloride, magnesia, and metallic magnesium produced via electrolytic reduction of carnallite, emerge as significant outputs, with the latter often classified as a byproduct of potash refining due to the Dead Sea's high magnesium content exceeding 13% in brines.[28][29][18] Industrial salts, such as sodium chloride, arise as byproducts during the evaporation and separation stages, utilized in water treatment and de-icing applications.[23] Overall, these products stem from a sequential evaporation process that exploits the Dead Sea's hypersaline composition, yielding steady annual mineral extraction around 3.8 million tons of potash equivalents in recent years, though total outputs encompass broader mineral suites including sodium and chloride derivatives.[7][16]Market Position and Export Significance
The Dead Sea Works (DSW), a subsidiary of ICL Group Ltd., maintains a prominent position in the global potash market, with Israel achieving a production high of 3.9 million metric tons of potash in 2020, reflecting a 15% increase from 3.3 million metric tons in 2019 driven by expanded operations at DSW facilities.[21] In the first quarter of 2024 alone, ICL's potash output reached 1.159 million metric tons, underscoring DSW's capacity to sustain high-volume production amid fluctuating global demand.[30] For bromine, Israel commands approximately 35% of worldwide production, primarily through DSW's extraction from Dead Sea brines, positioning it as a dominant supplier for industrial applications including flame retardants and oil drilling fluids.[31] DSW's exports are central to Israel's chemical sector, with potash and bromine shipments forming a substantial portion of the country's industrial outflows, directed mainly to agricultural markets in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.[32] These minerals contribute significantly to national revenues, including royalties exceeding NIS 580 million in recent fiscal assessments, bolstering foreign exchange earnings and supporting downstream industries.[33] The sector's output, including potash, bromine, and magnesium derivatives, underpins Israel's export competitiveness in fertilizers and specialty chemicals, with DSW's low-cost Dead Sea brine processing enabling resilience against global price volatility, as evidenced by sustained bromine market stability in mid-2025 despite regional tensions.[34] Overall, DSW's export profile enhances Israel's economic diversification, with mining and chemicals collectively accounting for notable GDP shares through direct sales and value-added processing.[21]Contributions to Agriculture and Industry
The Dead Sea Works, a subsidiary of Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), extracts and processes potash (primarily potassium chloride) from Dead Sea brines, making it a major global supplier essential for agricultural fertilizers.[3] Potash provides crops with potassium, a key nutrient that regulates physiological functions, enhances water uptake, improves disease resistance, and boosts yield quality, thereby supporting sustainable farming practices amid global food demands.[35] In 2020, Israel's potash production—predominantly from Dead Sea Works—reached a record 3.9 million metric tons, up 15% from 3.3 million metric tons in 2019, enabling exports that contribute to fertilizer supplies for diverse crops including grains, fruits, and vegetables.[21] This output positions Israel as a top-10 potash producer, with Dead Sea Works leveraging solar evaporation ponds to produce potash efficiently from the region's hypersaline waters.[36] Beyond agriculture, Dead Sea Works supports industrial sectors through bromine and magnesium production, derived from the same brine processing. Bromine, extracted at 173,000 metric tons in 2020, serves as a feedstock for flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, and water treatment chemicals, with Israel holding a leading global share in this commodity.[21] Magnesium, produced via Dead Sea Magnesium (an affiliated facility), yields metal used in lightweight alloys for automotive, aerospace, and electronics applications, contributing to Israel's 4% share of world magnesium output in recent years.[37] These products, processed through chemical refinement of carnallite and other minerals, enhance industrial efficiency and innovation, with bromine's versatility in organic synthesis underscoring the site's role in downstream manufacturing value chains.[38] Overall, these outputs bolster economic resilience by diversifying export revenues tied to high-demand materials.[1]Environmental and Resource Impacts
Effects on Dead Sea Hydrology and Ecosystems
The operations of the Dead Sea Works involve pumping seawater from the northern basin of the Dead Sea to extensive evaporation ponds in the southern basin, where solar evaporation concentrates the brine for mineral extraction, effectively removing water from the overall hydrological system.[16] This process contributes to the Dead Sea's negative water balance, with the company pumping volumes that official Israeli government assessments attribute to an annual level decline of approximately 26 cm in the northern basin as of 2024.[16] Combined with reduced inflows from the Jordan River—diverted primarily for agriculture by Israel, Jordan, and Syria—the total decline exceeds 100 cm per year, shrinking the lake's volume and surface area while increasing its depth and salinity gradient.[39][40] Dead Sea Works has claimed its activities account for only 9% of the overall water loss, though this figure contrasts with independent hydrological modeling that emphasizes the cumulative evaporative demand from industrial ponds covering over 140 km² in Israel alone.[41][42] These hydrological alterations have desiccated the shallower southern basin since the 1980s, transforming it from a submerged extension of the lake into largely dry land reliant on continuous pumping from the north, which accelerates volume loss in the remaining northern reservoir.[43] The resultant drop—over 40 meters since the mid-20th century—has intensified subsurface karst processes, where receding waters expose unstable evaporite layers (primarily halite and gypsum) to infiltrating freshwater from aquifers and rainfall, leading to rapid dissolution and the formation of voids.[44][39] This has manifested in thousands of sinkholes along the shores, some exceeding 20 meters in diameter and depth, destabilizing terrain and posing hazards to infrastructure and access.[45][46] Ecologically, the Dead Sea's hypersaline environment supports limited biodiversity, dominated by extremophile microorganisms such as haloarchaea and Dunaliella algae that thrive in salinities exceeding 300 g/kg, but the level decline disrupts these niches by compressing habitable depths and exposing microbial mats to desiccation and UV radiation.[47] Sinkhole proliferation fragments potential shoreline habitats, though some have paradoxically enabled colonization by halotolerant arthropods and plants, increasing local trophic complexity over time; overall, however, the exposure of ~100 km² of former lakebed since 1970 has reduced wetted area for any endemic or migratory species reliant on the water body, including overwintering birds.[48] Brine leakage from evaporation ponds, documented through geophysical modeling, further risks salinizing adjacent groundwater and soils, potentially inhibiting vegetation recovery on exposed flats and altering microbial community structures via chemical gradients.[43][49] These effects compound natural aridity, with no evidence of compensatory ecosystem adaptation amid ongoing contraction.[40]Pollution Control Measures and Mitigation Efforts
Dead Sea Works, as part of ICL Group, conducts land rehabilitation initiatives in the Dead Sea region, focusing on restoring disturbed areas, cultivating native habitats, and eradicating invasive species to counteract mining-induced degradation.[50] These efforts include ongoing projects to rehabilitate over 180 hectares of operational facilities and surrounding lands, emphasizing ecosystem recovery in the hypersaline southern basin.[1] In water management, the company applies site-specific practices to minimize impacts on Dead Sea ecosystems, including efficiency measures to reduce freshwater draw from northern sources like the Sea of Galilee, though annual pumping volumes remain substantial at approximately 150-160 million cubic meters from the Dead Sea itself.[51] A dedicated water-saving initiative was launched as part of broader sustainability goals, aiming to optimize usage amid regional scarcity.[1] For emissions and energy, Dead Sea Works established a cross-functional team in recent years to pursue greenhouse gas reductions and enhance energy efficiency, contributing to ICL's reported 4.94% scope 1 and 2 emissions cut in 2023 relative to prior baselines.[52] This includes transitioning facilities like the 2018 operational power plant toward natural gas for lower environmental footprint, though specifics on air pollutant controls remain tied to general compliance rather than quantified Dead Sea-tailored metrics.[53] Targeted pollution mitigation addresses operational hazards reactively: following multiple potash leaks from transmission lines into the Judean Desert Nature Reserve between October 2020 and January 2024, the company covered the Tzefa conveyor belt to curb dust dispersion, despite persistent occasional malfunctions.[33] A major 2022 feed canal breach polluting the Tze'elim Stream alluvial fan prompted license amendments by Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection, mandating immediate response protocols for brine infiltration and habitat restoration.[33] Evaporation ponds, covering 145 km² and prone to ~25% annual brine leakage exacerbating sinkhole formation, lack dedicated containment upgrades, with operations compensating via increased pumping rather than structural fixes.[33] Waste handling remains a focal challenge, with annual generation of 15,000 tons of salt sludge and 2 million tons of salt waste unregulated under outdated business licenses lacking wastewater or asbestos provisions for bromine and potash plants.[33] In 2023, the Ministry required a comprehensive salt sludge regulatory plan by 2028, including landfill alternatives, but enforcement lapses have forgone NIS 90-135 million in levies since 2007.[33] State Comptroller audits highlight systemic oversight gaps, noting eight pollutant incidents and unmonitored ecosystem damage, underscoring that mitigation relies heavily on post-audit interventions rather than proactive, license-embedded standards.[33]Comparative Analysis of Causative Factors in Sea Decline
The decline of the Dead Sea's water level, exceeding 40 meters since the mid-20th century with an accelerating rate surpassing 1 meter per year in recent decades, stems primarily from anthropogenic disruptions to its hydrological balance rather than natural variability or climate change.[54][55] Historically, the sea maintained equilibrium through inflows from the Jordan River system (approximately 1.2-1.4 billion cubic meters annually) balancing high evaporation rates of 1.4-1.6 billion cubic meters per year, driven by the region's arid climate with precipitation under 50 mm annually and potential evapotranspiration exceeding 1,800 mm.[44][56] Current inflows have plummeted to 300-400 million cubic meters annually, primarily from residual Jordan River flow and sporadic flash floods, creating a persistent deficit that natural factors alone cannot explain.[57] The dominant causative factor is the upstream diversion of freshwater from the Jordan River and its tributaries by Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon for agriculture, urban supply, and hydropower, reducing inflows by over 70-80% relative to pre-1960s levels.[57][44] These diversions, intensifying since the 1950s with projects like Israel's National Water Carrier (completed 1964) and Jordan's agricultural expansions, have systematically curtailed the sea's primary recharge, accounting for the bulk of the hydrological imbalance; for instance, Jordan River discharge to the Dead Sea now stands at under 200 million cubic meters annually compared to historical norms.[58] In contrast, industrial mineral extraction by facilities like Dead Sea Works (Israel) and the Arab Potash Company (Jordan), which pump hypersaline water to expansive evaporation ponds (totaling over 200 km²), contributes 17-25% to the level drop through enhanced evaporative losses estimated at 500-800 million cubic meters annually across both operations.[59] This process, while economically vital for potash and bromide production, effectively amplifies the deficit by relocating and concentrating evaporation from the sea surface to artificial ponds, with returned brines insufficient to offset losses; however, industry operators like ICL attribute only a minor role to their activities, emphasizing riparian diversions as the core driver—a perspective aligned with their operational interests but corroborated by hydrological models showing diversions as the initiating imbalance.[57][60] Natural factors, including the sea's inherent high salinity (now over 34%) suppressing evaporation rates to 1,200-1,400 mm equivalent depth annually and episodic low rainfall, exacerbate but do not originate the decline, as pre-diversion balances persisted despite these conditions for millennia.[61] Quantitative assessments indicate minimal recent climate influence, with temperature rises and drought variability contributing less than 5-10% to the deficit, far outweighed by human interventions; for example, Jordanian geologists have dismissed climate change as primary, citing diversion data from riparian gauging stations.[62] Comparative modeling projects that halting diversions could stabilize levels within decades, whereas curbing industrial evaporation alone would slow but not reverse the trend without addressing inflows.[63] Thus, while both diversion and extraction are culpable, the former's upstream irreversibility underscores a shared regional failure in water allocation, with Israel's and Jordan's policies prioritizing national needs over basin sustainability.[38]| Causative Factor | Estimated Contribution to Annual Deficit (%) | Key Quantitative Impact | Primary Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan River diversions | 70-80 | Inflow reduction from ~1.2 billion m³/y to <0.3 billion m³/y | USGS reports, ICL sustainability data[44][57] |
| Industrial evaporation (potash/bromide extraction) | 17-25 | Additional ~0.5-0.8 billion m³/y evaporated in ponds | Regional studies, GSI analyses[59][60] |
| Natural (evaporation/precipitation imbalance) | <10 | Persistent ~1.4 billion m³/y evaporation vs. <50 mm/y rain | Hydrological balances, geologist assessments[61][62] |