The Dead Sea Preservation Government Company Ltd. was established in 2008 in order to bring under one roof the planning and implementation of protection for the Dead Sea hotels and beach infrastructure against flooding. Fourteen hotels (about 4,000 rooms) are located in the "Ein Boqeq" and "Hamei Zohar" tourist centers on the shores of an industrial evaporation pond in the southern basin of the Dead Sea.
This pond (also known to as Pond No. 5) is the first in a series of industrial ponds (in the past this area formed a part of the Dead Sea) operated by the Dead Sea Works Company Ltd. (DSW) by power of the Franchise Law.
Water from the Dead Sea is drawn by pumps and conveyed through a canal to a pond that serves as an evaporation and salt sedimentation pond. The water level rises in a controlled manner by approximately 20 centimeters a year due to salt sedimentation on the pond bed. The depth of the layer of sediment salt is estimated at about 9 meters.
In the summer of 2007 the government assigned to the Minister of Tourism the handling of the problem, the delineation of the organizational system for examining alternatives to the permanent solution, and the performance of urgent short term intermediate solutions. The government also announced that the handling of the problem will be promoted through the framework of the National Infrastructure Committee as a national infrastructure plan.
In February 2008 the Israeli government decided to establish the Dead Sea Preservation Government Company in order to examine, consolidate and recommend solutions for the problem, to manage and lead their planning and execution.