Saving the Sea of Galilee With Desalinated Water

There was a time, not so long ago, when worried Israelis would listen out for daily updates on the water level of the Sea of Galilee (or the Kinneret, as it is known in Hebrew).

It’s the country’s only significant freshwater lake and was, until recently, its primary source of water.

So it was a national concern if the level dropped, as it often did during the summer months, day-by-day, centimeter-by-centimeter.

The upper red line (danger), was bad news. The lower red line (pumping from the lake prohibited) was worse, and the black line (risk of permanent damage) was terrible.

Today the water level of the Kinneret is longer such a problem. Israel has been desalinating water from the Mediterranean since 2005.

And in recent months, it completed a $250 million infrastructure project that allows it to top it up the lake with water from its five desalination plants in the south of the country.

A newly-built network of underground pipelines, pumping stations, and local reservoirs means Mekorot, the national water company, and the Israel Water Authority can now turn on the tap as and when needed, and water will immediately start flowing into the Kinneret.

For the final 3km of its journey the water emerges from underground pipes at Nahal Zalmon, reviving an otherwise dried-out riverbed.

It took four years to build the National Carrier Flow Reversal Project, so called because the country’s traditional flow of water – from north to south – has been reversed.

Since 1964, water from the Kinneret, in the north, was piped south, to supply the whole of the country. Now Israel is reversing that flow.

Keep reading at nocamels.com.

Mekorot CIO Ofer Midginski is a Technion alumnus.