In the winter of 2008, Israel faced a water disaster of growing severity. The drought cycle that began in 2005 was reaching a peak and threatening irreparable harm to nature. The Sea of Galilee, the largest freshwater reservoir in the region and a site steeped in biblical history, stood 200 meters below sea level. The scene reflected not only a shortage of rainfall but also the effects of overuse by irrigated farming and illegal wells.
That is when the Water Authority, an inter-ministerial body created in 2007, stepped in. Its first move was a national campaign to raise public awareness in a country where deserts cover large swaths of land and population growth presses on water resources. The campaign aimed to promote water conservation, reuse, and even new production. Officials from water administration met with villagers, going door to door to encourage urban users to shorten showers.
Simultaneously, the country began laying the foundations of a unique water system built on three pillars: long term investment in treated wastewater, large-scale desalination, and a broad, intricate pipeline network that reaches every corner of the nation to deliver water where it is most needed. As four scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem noted last year, this system essentially turns the country into a single watershed in terms of water management.
An example of success
The integrated approach has yielded spectacular results that some analysts view as strategically important for Israel’s international relations with Arab neighbors. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has cited Israel as a model of success in adapting to an arid climate, scarce water resources, and climate uncertainty. Israel’s water consumption per person is among the lowest in the OECD, while the country uses a large share of treated wastewater for agriculture. OECD data indicate that over 87 percent of treated water is reused for farming, underscoring the country’s efficiency in water reuse (OECD report).
Following earlier efforts to modify weather patterns through cloud seeding, Israel chose desalination as a key solution. Since 2005, five major seawater desalination plants have been built along the Mediterranean coast, now meeting a substantial portion of the nation’s fresh water needs. About 85 percent of that desalinated water goes to households, supporting both daily life and economic activity.
Desalination remains energy intensive, typically relying on reverse osmosis to convert salt water into drinking water. This raises concerns about carbon emissions, but improvements in energy efficiency have reduced the environmental footprint. Israel treats desalination as part of a broader strategy to build resilience against climate change and to ensure water security for the future.
Desalination also advances water diplomacy. In late 2022, during a major international climate conference, Israel, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates agreed to swap a portion of desalinated water for solar electricity. The deal envisions Israel supplying hundreds of millions of cubic meters of desalinated water to Jordan in exchange for a large amount of solar power capacity from the participating nations.
The most recent milestone in the national water plan arrived in December when a bold decision was made to protect a strategic freshwater reservoir. A pipeline was opened to prevent desalinated excess water from the Sea of Galilee from being wasted. For the first time, desalinated water is used to refill a freshwater lake. This pioneering step aimed at safeguarding the reservoir has drawn criticism for its high cost, exceeding two hundred million dollars. Water Authority leaders have been clear that Israel is demonstrating, through clever planning and innovative approaches, that it can lead the fight against climate change and build durable water security for the nation. It is a practical example of how imaginative policy and investment can alter the drought landscape and reinforce regional stability, now and in the years ahead.