In an interview with Ynet, energy minister says desalination output to double, aquifers, rivers to be saved; addressing Syria, Steinitz warns ‘Assad in danger if he allows Iranian military buildup.’
Alexandra Lukash, Attila Somfalvi|Published: 08.30.18

Israel intends to prepare for additional drought years by doubling the quantity of desalinated water and the upgrading the national water carrier so that it can carry water from the desalination plants to the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret), according to Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz.

“Next year we will start pumping water into the Kinneret and within two or three years we will complete a system that will allow us to desalinate a surplus amount of water in order to pump water into the Sea of Galilee and save our national lake,” Steinitz said in an interview with Ynet.

“The danger is clear and palpable, the hydrological drought is the worst in the history of the State of Israel, the water level in the Sea of Galilee is closer than ever since the establishment of the State of Israel to the black line, but the situation with the aquifers, rivers and streams is even more severe,” he added.

Steinitz said that according to a new principle that was established, the water infrastructure in Israel will be able to deal with a drought not only in terms of water supply for drinking and agriculture, “but also in terms of concern for nature, the Sea of Galilee and saving the rivers.”

He noted that the government had already approved a new master plan to double the quantities of desalinated water in Israel and to overhaul the national water carrier so that it could pump water from the desalination plants in the center of the country to the Sea of Galilee to raise the water level and save the sea, “because it also has a national-historical value.”

The minister also noted that the national water carrier will be able to transfer water from the south to the Sea of Galilee and the rivers in the north. “We cannot allow global warming and drought to destroy the Sea of Galilee and the rivers of the north.”

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5338267,00.html