Water Use
Israel's National Water Carrier, built in 1964, transports water from the lake to the population centers of Israel, and is the source of much of the country's drinking water.
In 1964, Syria attempted construction of a Headwater Diversion Plan that would have blocked the flow of water into the Sea of Galilee, sharply reducing the water flow into the lake. This project and Israel's attempt to block these efforts in 1965 were factors which played into regional tensions culminating in the 1967 Six-Day War. During the war, Israel captured the Golan Heights, which contain some of the sources of water for the Sea of Galilee. Under the terms of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty, Israel also supplies 50 million cubic metres of water annually from the lake to Jordan.
Increasing water demand and dry winters have resulted in stress on the lake and a decreasing water line to dangerously low levels at times. The Sea of Galilee is at risk of becoming irreversibly salinized by the salt water springs under the lake, which are held in check by the weight of the freshwater on top of them.
The Israeli government monitors water levels and publishes the results daily at this web page. The level over the past eight years can be retrieved from that site. By early April 2012, having risen almost two metres over the winter, the water level of the Kinneret was at its highest level in five years. The Water Authority partly attributes the improvement to the expansion of desalination technology as a water source.
Read more about this topic: Sea Of Galilee
Famous quotes containing the word water:
“A man’s social and spiritual discipline must answer to his corporeal. He must lean on a friend who has a hard breast, as he would lie on a hard bed. He must drink cold water for his only beverage. So he must not hear sweetened and colored words, but pure and refreshing truths. He must daily bathe in truth cold as spring water, not warmed by the sympathy of friends.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be—
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)