The water level of Israel’s largest lake dropped to a historic low in the last decade.
The Lake of Gennesaret, also known as a popular tourist destination in Israel, has suffered from a severe drought in the last decade. As a solution to this, in December Israel started pumping sea water purified from salt into the lake.
Israeli online media According to the Times of Israel (you will be transferred to another service) the project is the first of its kind in the world.
Lake Gennesaret is Israel’s largest lake and an important water reserve. In the years 2013–2018, the lake level dropped to a historic low.
A pipeline leaves Lake Gennesaret and will eventually connect to five desalination plants on the Mediterranean coast.
According to the media, the price for the project was around 243 million euros and it was completed in seven years.
– Because of climate change, we don’t know what to expect from next year or the year after that. We no longer depend on rain for water supply, a representative of Israel’s national water company Mekorot Yoav Barkay tells Reuters.
Water part of the peace process with the neighboring country
According to the Times of Israel, it is not believed that there will be a continuous need for the lake filling mechanism in the near future. For example last year (you switch to another service) the lake level was at its highest level in 30 years thanks to abundant rains.
However, the demand for fresh water is increasing due to, among other things, population growth in the region.
The need to fill the lake can also be increased by the fact that neighboring Jordan has agreed with Israel to supply 200 million cubic meters of water in return for Jordan’s solar energy.
Water was an essential part of the peace agreement between Jordan and Israel in 1994. According to the agreement, Israel must supply Jordan with 50 million cubic meters of drinkable water per year. In 2021, the amount of water delivered had already doubled.
Jordan has suffered severe water shortage (you switch to another service)a. Jordan and Israel have blamed each other, for example, for the drying up of the Jordan River between the two countries.
According to the Times of Israel, Israel also sells about 100 million cubic meters of potable water to the Palestinian territories each year.
Sources: Reuters, Uutiset