Arab–Israeli peace projects regional problems of acute shortage of clean fresh water in Jordan, and the rapid contraction of the Dead Sea. A new desalination plant to be built near the Jordanian tourist resort of Aqaba would convert salt water from the Red Sea into fresh water for use in southern Israel and southern Jordan; each region would get eight billion to 13 billion gallons a year. This process would produces about as much brine as a waste product; the brine would be piped more than 100 miles to help replenish the Dead Sea, already known for its high salt content. This would
Brine mining beneath Searles Lake, California, is or has been a source of borax, potash, bromine, lithium, phosphate, soda ash, and sodium sulfate. Salt (sodium chloride) has been a valuable commodity since prehistoric times, and its extraction from sea water also goes back to prehistory. Salt is extracted from seawater in many countries around the world, but the majority of salt put on the market today is mined from solid evaporite deposits. Salt is produced as a byproduct of potash extraction from Dead Sea brine at one plant in Israel (Dead Sea Works), and another in Jordan (Arab Salt Works). The total