Why did the proposed *Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance* project involve pumping water instead of siphoning it? (en.wikipedia.org)
from cypherpunks@lemmy.ml to nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca on 04 Dec 2025 00:19
https://lemmy.ml/post/39835523

The surface of the Dead Sea is hundreds of meters below sea level so it seems like pumping would only be needed to prime a siphon and then it could keep flowing. What am I missing?

#nostupidquestions

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CameronDev@programming.dev on 04 Dec 2025 00:31 next collapse

I am a pretend engineer, so take this with a grain of salt, but my guess is that because its very hard to perfectly airtight seal a pipe of that length, the siphon would be very hard to maintain.

sopularity_fax@sopuli.xyz on 12 Dec 2025 13:27 collapse

grain of salt

Dead Sea

I didnt notsee wat u did there

smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works on 04 Dec 2025 00:58 next collapse

My guess is pumping losses. Essentially there’s friction moving water through a pipe, and the distance would be so long as to make said friction higher than the available suction. It would probably just start cavitating and destroy the pipe.

gramie@lemmy.ca on 04 Dec 2025 16:35 next collapse

Also, the maximum pressure you could have enough siphon is the difference in air pressure between the two ends. If you want more pressure, you have to pump.

CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca on 04 Dec 2025 16:49 collapse

yea, your pipe friction is refered to as ‘major losses’, and on a system that long would be >> than head. Would definitly need to pump!

mokus@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 04 Dec 2025 15:17 collapse

A siphon is powered by air pressure on the surface of the source and can only lift water as far as the available pressure pushes it. That’s about 10 meters for atmospheric pressure, no matter how much vacuum you pull on the other side. If the route requires lifting more than that along the way, the siphon would not work at all.