National water company halts pumping from Sea of Galilee

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 3 February 2003 | DAVID RUDGE

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Feb. 3, 2003
National water company halts pumping from Sea of Galilee
By DAVID RUDGE

Mekorot has stopped pumping water from the Sea of Galilee to the National Water Carrier for the rest of the month, to carry out maintenance work on the network.

The drying up of the system will enable essential repairs and protective work to be carried out on pipelines, valves and pumping gear.

Officials with Mekorot, the national water company, said the work had been made possible by the low level of the sea and reduced demand for water for irrigation purposes because of rainfall.

Water will be supplied to domestic consumers in northern Israel from local wells during the course of the maintenance work on the carrier.

The officials noted that the level of the sea has risen by a further nine centimeters since the weekend and yesterday stood at 213.61 meters below sea-level.

Altogether, the lake has risen by 81 centimeters since its low point of 214.42 meters below sea-level prior to the onset of winter.

The Mekorot officials said this represented 130 million cubic meters of water, but stressed that nearly 900 million cubic meters more was needed to raise the level to its maximum mark of 208.90 meters below sea-level.

According to Mekorot, the last time the lake was full was in the winter of 1994-95. Since then it has dropped steadily and the original red-line (minimum) mark had to be lowered from 213 ms to 215.50 ms below sea-level.

Mekorot director-general Amos Epstein said the company would again have to face the task of ensuring reliable supplies this year, while trying to prevent breaching the red-lines in the sea and the Coastal and Mountain Aquifers.