{"id":89478,"date":"2025-09-04T06:49:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=89478"},"modified":"2025-09-04T06:50:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:50:21","slug":"israel-to-pump-desalinated-mediterranean-water-into-the-sea-of-galilee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/israel-to-pump-desalinated-mediterranean-water-into-the-sea-of-galilee\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel to pump desalinated Mediterranean water into the Sea of Galilee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JNS STAFF<\/p>\n<p>(JNS.org) \u2013 Israel plans to pump desalinated Mediterranean seawater into the Sea of Galilee to combat years of drought and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/sea-of-galilee-level-edges-closer-to-lower-red-line-after-heatwave\/\">falling water levels<\/a>, in what is considered the first project of its kind in the world.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_89480\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-89480\" class=\"wp-image-89480 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1.jpg 1320w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-89480\" class=\"wp-image-89480 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F250814MG506-1320x880-1.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-89480\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israelis enjoy themselves in the Sea of Galilee on Aug. 14, 2025. Photo by Michael Giladi\/ Flash90.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Located in northeastern Israel, between the Golan Heights and the Galilee, the lake is the country\u2019s main freshwater reservoir, underscoring the importance of the Water Authority\u2019s initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Officials aim to reverse the decline after a series of droughts pushed the lake dangerously close to the \u201cblack line\u201d\u2014the level at which water extraction becomes ecologically harmful and could cause irreversible damage.<\/p>\n<p>In the coming weeks, desalinated water from Israel\u2019s Mediterranean coast will begin to be redirected into the Sea of Galilee,&nbsp;<em>Ynet<\/em>&nbsp;reported on Tuesday. By late October or early November, the Water Authority expects to start pumping up to 5,000 cubic meters (1.3 million gallons) of water per hour, with a long-term plan to expand to 15,000 as additional infrastructure is completed.<\/p>\n<p>The desalinated water will travel 62 to 93 miles, drawn from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/israel-to-offset-five-year-drought-with-two-new-desalination-plants\/\">plants<\/a>&nbsp;in Ashdod, Hadera and other coastal sites. The project has required upgrading pumping stations, constructing new pipelines and reinforcing reservoirs, at a cost of around 1 billion shekels ($297 million).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe dropped below the lower red line and came close to the black line. That\u2019s when experts proposed reversing the National Water Carrier and channeling desalinated water into the lake. Ultimately, this became the chosen solution,\u201d said Firas Talhami, head of the Water Authority\u2019s northern region, in an interview with&nbsp;<em>Ynet<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a historic event that has never been done before anywhere in the world,\u201d Talhami added. \u201cWe also considered the ecological impact, and the project will restore the Zalmon stream as a perennial waterway, reviving plant and animal life.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Israel%20to%20pump%20desalinated%20Mediterranean%20water%20into%20the%20Sea%20of%20Galilee\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":89480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[8781,8790,8795,8788,14812],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89482,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89478\/revisions\/89482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}