Israel to top up Sea of Galilee after years of drought

The Guardian: The shrinking Sea of Galilee, the inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water, is to be topped up with desalinated seawater.

A plan given Israeli cabinet approval will pump 100 million cubic metres of water annually by 2022 into the lake in the Galilee region, said Yechezkel Lifshitz, from the country’s energy and water ministry.

In 2017 Israel’s water authority said the sea, hit by years of drought, had reached its lowest level in a century.

Situated 200 metres (656ft) below sea level and 28 miles (45km) from the coast, the Sea of Galilee is mentioned in the bible as the site of a number of Jesus’s miracles.

Known in Hebrew as Lake Kinneret, it covers an area of roughly 62 square miles (160 sq km). Ten years ago it provided 400m cubic metres a year of fresh water and was the country’s largest freshwater reserve.

But a series of dry winters have reduced its level to such an extent that pumping had to be limited to 30-40m cubic metres a year.

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