The Jordan River, which cuts through Israel and Jordan, largely
reflects the scarcity of water in the region. The above picture
shows a rare flooding event in the Jordan River in the winter of
2003 at the Baptist site (well-known in Christianity). Just
several months later, during the summer of 2003, the river was
dry again, as shown below at a site close to Abdalla Bridge.
Courtesy of Avner Vengosh. Data collected from more than 6,000
selected sampling points reveal that more than 10 percent of the
water resources in the Mediterranean basin have boron levels
exceeding 1 milligram per liter, the new E.U. drinking water
standard. We found that the highest values of boron are in areas
associated with geothermal activity, such as in Tuscany, Italy,
and Chalkidiki, Greece. In addition, we discovered high boron
levels in the groundwater basins in the central part of Cyprus
and in the southern coastal aquifer that is shared between
Israel and the Gaza Strip. In order to delineate the origin of
boron and salinity in