National Water Carrier of Israel
The National Water Carrier (Hebrew המוביל הארצי " HaMowil haArtzi ", on German occasionally " ( Israeli ) National Water Carrier " ) is an Israeli channel and pipe system, are supplied with the parts of the country in the south with drinking water from the water-rich northern Israel. The water is transported from the Sea of Galilee to the Negev Desert.
The background: Israel's Water Resources
The water supply of Israel has to contend with a number of problems. Due to the increasing agricultural irrigation water consumption over the last decades has risen sharply; the irrigated area has - more than tenfold from 300,000 dunams in 1938 to over 4 million dunams in 1990 - within just 50 years. In contrast, the available water reserves are low: there is hardly rivers or lakes, the year-round supply water and groundwater supplies are limited. In addition, as a further problem is the uneven temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation. The main rainfall occurs in winter, when less water is needed anyway, since hardly any irrigation is necessary. In contrast, it rains in the summer not to the main demand time. In addition, the rainfall from year to year can fluctuate significantly. Another problem is the regional distribution of the water is: Approximately three-quarters of the usable water are located north of Tel Aviv, while in the south the transition to the Negev desert are large areas that can be used for agricultural purposes with appropriate irrigation.
Because of this situation, Israel has to save their objectives, water in dealing with water and transport it from north to south. It is not possible to rely on natural watercourses: Most Israeli rivers are quite short, running in an east-west direction and empty into the Mediterranean Sea. The only major river flowing towards the south is the Jordan which, however, not least because of its location below sea level (and thus below the areas to be supplied ) is marginally useful as a supply channel.
Against this background, all water resources of Israel were nationalized in 1959 with the aim of improving and there were established several agencies and companies that are involved in the planning and control of water use and the development of infrastructure. For the construction and operation of larger water utilities, the company Mekorot is responsible. Through various measures Israel could optimize the use of its waters over the last decades. So, for example, could of consumption can be reduced by drip irrigation. The better use of water serve the enrichment of groundwater by surface water in winter, the development of new wells and desalination. The construction of the National Water Carrier was a key element in the effort to make better use of the available water.
Since the establishment of the system, the Israeli population has nearly tripled to seven million inhabitants. At the same time, water consumption has increased by only three percent, while agricultural production has increased ninefold itself.
The National Water
The 6,500 km long supply system was completed in 1964. Jordan and Syria responded by diversion of headwaters of the Jordan on their territory, which in turn led to diplomatic and military clashes that almost seamlessly led to the 1967 Six Day War. With the occupation of the Golan Heights in 1967, Israel secured the control of the Jordan River source Banyas as well as with the 1982 Lebanon war, control of the Hazbani.