JERUSALEM, Israel – Following five consecutive years of below-average winter rainfall, Israeli cabinet ministers passed a $30 million measure to replenish the Sea of Galilee and seven northern streams severely affected by the drought.
For the first time ever, desalinated water will be pumped into the Kinneret to help replenish its water level, as well as the streams in the north.
The plan also includes construction of two new desalination plants, one on the coast of the Western Galilee and a second in Sorek, where the world’s most advanced and largest desalination plant came on line in 2014.
Officials hope to begin pumping desalinated water into the Kinneret next year, increasing the amount to 100 million cubic meters over a four-year period.
At Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the initiative as "turning the Kinneret into a reservoir for desalinated water."
"Today the cabinet will approve an urgent plan to deal with the drought problem.
Usually we pump water from the Kinneret and bring to various parts of the country.
Here we are bringing desalinated water to the Kinneret because as we desalinate water on the coast in the water it goes to waste because there is no use for it.
"The second thing is the rehabilitation of seven streams.
Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz then explained the plan’s innovative features, including construction of the new desalination plants, in more detail.