The Dead Sea, the Pearl of the Middle East - 04.03.2018, Sputnik International

Since the 1960s, when Israel and Jordan began diverting much of the Jordan River's flow and increasing the commercial use of the lake, the water levels have been steadily dropping.

By the mid-2010s the lake level had dropped 30 meters below its mid-20th-century level, and it continues to drop by about a meter annually.

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Jade holds a Tibetan singing bowl as she sits on a cliff overlooking the Dead Sea near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on February 20, 2018.

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Levi holds a keffiyeh, an Arab head scarf, as he walks along the shore of the Dead Sea near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on January 4, 2018.

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Tourists from Poland float in the Dead Sea during sunset near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on January 25, 2018.

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Zina, a tourist from Belarus, plays his guitar as he sits on the shore of the Dead Sea near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on January 25, 2018.

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A woman blows the Jewish Shofar, a ram's horn, on the shore of the Dead Sea near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on January 31, 2018.

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A man covered with mud from the Dead Sea lies down on the shore of the Dead Sea, near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on January 9, 2018.

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Gad stands in a sweetwater pool among the reeds, on the shore of the Dead Sea, near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on January 4, 2018.

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Avraham walks along the shore of the Dead Sea, near Metzoke Dragot, Israel on February 7, 2018.