Israel Matzav

Good news on the water front

Our first rainy winter in five years has brought the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) back above what's called the 'lower red line' - the line below which pumping water could be dangerous. It rained almost straight from Thursday night to Monday morning to clinch the wet winter. Even if we get no more rain the rest of the season, the level should rise a bit more from melting snow in the Golan Heights. But there's still a long way to go for the Kinneret to be full.

The “red line” is located 213 meters below sea level. In recent years, the government added a “black line,” at 215 meters below sea level, beyond which water absolutely should not be drawn.

In 2009, the water level in the Kinneret sunk to 214.37 meters below sea level following five years of drought and was dangerously close to the black line at the end of last summer. However, the reservoir still lacks 13 feet of water before dams would have to opened to prevent local flooding.

Water Authority officials said Sunday that the Kinneret had risen by more than nine centimeters since Thursday. The heavy rains that began falling late last week caused flooding in the Arava region, and left most northern areas and the northern and central Negev with an annual accumulated rainfall more than 100 percent of the average for the entire season. Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Tel Aviv have received nearly 100 percent of their average accumulated rainfall this year.

Forecasters predict that scattered showers will continue Monday, followed by warmer and drier weather the rest of the week, with the exception of the possibility of light rain in the north on Wednesday.

And there's still about a month of the rainy season to go.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:35 PM