In a milestone with global implications, Israel has begun pumping desalinated seawater into the Kinneret — the first time anywhere in the world that processed ocean water is being used to refill a natural freshwater lake.

The Water Authority inaugurated the system on October 23, marking a turning point in Israel’s decades-long battle against drought and water scarcity, and a vivid illustration of how the country’s high-tech approach to water management has upended old natural limits.

“It’s the first time in the world that desalinated water is being sent back to nature — not to a pipe, not to a city, but to a lake,” said Firas Talhami, the Water Authority’s northern rehabilitation director. “We expect the level to rise about half a centimeter a month.”

The new pipeline channels roughly 1,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per hour — about 264,000 gallons — through the Tsalmon Stream, flowing into the lake at the Ein Ravid spring, northwest of Israel’s largest freshwater reservoir and main emergency drinking source.

Israel’s desalination network, once built to relieve pressure on the shrinking Kinneret, is now being run in reverse. The same system that pipes fresh water from the Galilee southward to the Negev will now send surplus desalinated water northward to replenish it.

The concept was born out of desperation during the drought years of 2013–2018, when the lake’s waterline dropped to its lowest point in decades. At its nadir, locals could walk hundreds of feet from the shore before reaching water.

Now, the Kinneret — sitting 213.33 meters (699.9 feet) below sea level, just 13 inches above its “lower red line” — faces a different challenge: maintaining water levels in an era of rapid climate shifts and erratic rainfall.

Last winter brought barely half the country’s average rainfall. Beaches have widened, lifeguard towers now sit inland, and the iconic lake that once symbolized abundance has become a barometer for the region’s climate stress.

“We’ve gone from a country that feared drought to one that produces its own rain,” a senior water official said. “But nature always collects the bill eventually.”

For now, only one of two parallel pipes is operational. A second, larger pipeline could double the inflow to 2,000 cubic meters per hour if rainfall remains scarce or desalination plants produce enough surplus.

Tests by the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute suggest no major ecological damage from the diluted water — though some scientists remain cautious. The desalinated water, stripped of minerals and salt, could potentially alter the lake’s chemistry over time.

The Water Authority insists it’s taking a measured approach. “The goal isn’t to turn the Sea of Galilee into a tank of desalinated water,” Talhami said. “It’s to stabilize the level — and protect the ecosystem from collapse.”

For the next six months, the flow will continue at a steady pace, with adjustments based on rainfall. Officials are watching closely how the lake responds to its first artificial recharge.

Israel’s success in desalination has transformed it from a drought-stricken nation into a global water exporter. Its five coastal plants — with more under construction — now produce enough water to meet 70–80% of domestic demand. Some of that water is already sold to Jordan and the Palestinian Authority under regional agreements.

The ability to reverse-feed the Kinneret is both a symbol of resilience and a warning sign. Officials stress that while desalination has bought time, it cannot replace natural rainfall indefinitely.

This winter, the Israel Meteorological Service predicts about 80% of average precipitation — not enough to erase years of decline. As a result, the Water Authority will cut the amount of water pumped from the lake for national use to just 20 million cubic meters — one-tenth of normal.

That means 20,000 dunams (roughly 5,000 acres) of farmland in the Galilee will go dry this year — another casualty of Israel’s tightening hydrological balance sheet.

The project has been lauded internationally as a model of innovation, combining advanced engineering with long-term environmental strategy. Yet it also exposes the paradox of modern water politics: a country mastering scarcity while confronting abundance’s fragility.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)