Lake Kinneret, Israel’s primary water source, has reached its highest level in six years. The lake now stands just 212.345 meters below sea level. The water level has risen much higher than the “black line, the lowest point it ever reached at 214.87 meters below sea level and is also above the bottom red line of 213 meters below sea level.
Water Authority spokesman Uri Schor told The Jerusalem Post that “This situation occurs due to three reasons – the first one is that we had an average winter, after seven drought years. The second is the Water Authority policy – that we pump much less from Lake Kinneret than in other years.” He then explained the third reason as significant increase of desalinated and recycled water use throughout the country.
Schor continued: “We are still only about 65 centimeters above the red bottom, and that’s not the best situation. The ideal situation would have been if at this time of the year we would be one meter higher. So we have still a lot to reach for…If we have an average year plus continued used of desalination and recycled sewage, we will be able to recover more of the natural sources.
The country’s water managers are encouraged by the rain which has fallen so far this year. The Israel Meterological Service reports that Tel Aviv received about 6 millimeters of rain, Haifa about 10 millimeters and northeastern areas about 7 millimeters.