National Water Carrier
Water transmission pipeline, About 500 million m3/year from the Sea of Galilee in Israel.
Operational
Landmark The 1964 spine that made one national water market possible, and the reason desalination could be concentrated on the coast.
The record
- Country
- Israel
- Location
- —
- Coordinates
- —
- Technology
- Water transmission pipeline
- Capacity
- About 500 million m3/year from the Sea of Galilee
- Capital cost
- —
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- State of Israel
- Contractor
- —
- Operator
- Mekorot
- Finance
- State
- Award or start year
- 1964
- Commissioned
- 1964-07
Record last checked 2026-09-18.
History
- 1950
construction begins
- 1964-07
carrier completed and commissioned
- 1989
Third Line to the Negev added as a parallel reclaimed water line
- 2022
flow reversal lets desalinated water be sent north into the Sea of Galilee
Sources
5 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- Nathan Cohen, Israel's National Water Carrier, Present Environment and Sustainable Development, 2008. pesd.ro.
- Works begun in 1950 and completed in July 1964, about 130 km from the Sea of Galilee southward, Sapir pumping station lifts water from 209 m below sea level, closed pipeline of 108 inches (2.47 m) to Rosh Ha'Ayin, tunnels at Shimron, Menashe A and Menashe B, about 500 million m3/year pumped from the lake, irrigation share fell from 80% at the start to 20%. World Bank, Water Management in Israel: Key Innovations and Lessons Learned (2017), Table 4.2 Major Seawater Desalination Plants in Israel. documents1.worldbank.org.
- Mekorot has operated the carrier since 1964 to move water from the Sea of Galilee to the centre and the Negev; the wider bulk system it anchors carries 95 per cent of Israel's potable water through about 12,000 km of transmission pipeline at 3 per cent losses.
- Mekorot, Our History. mekorot-int.com.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
130 km from the Kinneret to the settlements of the Negev, described as the largest enterprise ever built in Israel. No single plant site applies, so coordinates are left blank.