Israel to greatly increase flow of desalinated water into Sea of Galilee

The Water Authority and the national water company, Mekorot, will vastly increase the flow of desalinated water into the Sea of Galilee starting next week.

In October, Israel became the first country in the world to top up a freshwater lake with desalinated water, sending 1,000 cubic meters (264,000 gallons) per hour into the lake.

However, with a relatively dry winter in the northeast of the country, authorities have decided to increase the flow to 4,000 to 6,000 cubic meters (a million to 1.6. million gallons) per hour.

The lake’s level has risen by just 30 centimeters (12 inches) during the current rainy season, a far cry from the 1.6 meters (5.25 feet) in an average season.

The increase in flow has been made possible by the move to full capacity at two desalination plants — one in southern Ashkelon, the other near central Rishon Lezion.

Tests conducted before the project’s implementation indicated that the saltless seawater would not have any particularly negative effects on the lake’s ecosystems.

However, it is only this winter that scientists from the Kinneret Limnological Laboratory have been able to start analyzing and assessing the chemical and biological impact of the new water flow in real time.

The idea for the project was born toward the end of several disastrous drought years, between 2013 and 2018, when the lake’s level approached an all-time low. With desalinated water already set to be piped to communities in the nearby Lower Galilee, officials decided they could hook the lake into the system as well.